The Alliance of Fire and Wind
by fantasylover12001
Summary: AU fic. Sasuke Uchiha returns to his home to learn that he's stuck in a betrothal he doesn't want. He is even further shocked when he learns that the one chosen for him is none other then his childhood friend, Naruto Uzumaki, who is not a child any more.
1. Prologue

THE ALLIANCE OF WIND AND FIRE

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001 RATING: M/R to NC-17(one or two parts only)  
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, this is just me playing with Kishimoto's world a bit. Okay, a LOT. But it's all in good fun.  
SUMMARY: When Sasuke Uchiha returns to his home after several years he learns that he has been betrothed as part of an alliance agreement much to his displeasure. But displeasure turns into surprise when he learns that the one he's been betrothed too is his childhood friend Naruto Uzumaki who is not exactly a child anymore and very against the idea of getting married. Past issues, along with Sasuke's psychotic older brother further complicate matters. Will the two survive the trip to Konoha (and each other) long enough to get married? When they get there, will they even go through it?  
PAIRINGS: SasuNaru (with lots of UST ;g;), KakaIru, NejiGaara, LeeSaku, KibaHina, ShikaIno, implied Jiraiya/Tsunade.  
WARNINGS: Mention of MPreg in this though it is not going to be detailed or dwelled on that much. If you don't like that then either ignore that part of it and continue with the fic or just don't read it. PLEASE NO FLAMES.  
AUTHOR NOTES: My second Naruto fic! I'm so proud of myself...This is going to be quite different from Christmas Lists for Dummies. For one thing it's more plot driven and serious (though there is going to be some humor, I can't seem to write a completely serious fic to save my life) and its AU. Alternate Universe for you new fic people. It's also going to be a lot longer and have a lemon or two (though I won't put that here on just the link so I don't get deleted). Happy reading!

PROLOGUE:

The Land of Fire, Royal Palace Grounds,

Sometimes Tsunade hated being the Queen of Fire Country. It meant she got stuck with all the lousy jobs like planning banquets and dealing with noble families who thought she should dedicate all her time to satisfying their needs. Never mind that there were people in the Land of Fire who needed her help much more. Jiraiya complained that he had to sign papers all day but really, how trying was that? She had to deal with whiny nobles who hated it when things didn't go their way. She also had the unfortunate responsibility of telling Sasuke Uchiha that he was no longer single because he was now engaged to be married.

The blonde haired woman sighed and put on her best game face as Sasuke raised an eyebrow at what she had just said.

"I'm afraid I must have misunderstood you, Your Majesty," he said. "I could have sworn you just said that I'm engaged."

The Queen couldn't stop the shiver that ran through her at the deep voice. She couldn't help it, that voice was enough to make any woman, and quite a few men, swoon. Uchiha was not the pasty, gangly brat he'd been when he'd left the palace in his childhood. He'd always been rather cute but now he was just down right gorgeous. He had grown to a respectable height, somewhere around 6' 7" was her guess, and had jet black hair that hung around his face and intense eyes that were now narrowed at her. Even with the slight frown he was wearing he was handsome enough to make her wish she was about thirty years younger and single. The black Shinobi uniform didn't help matters; she had a thing for men in uniforms.

"You understood me correctly, Uchiha," Tsunade said reluctantly. She already knew by the narrowed eyes that he wasn't going to like this.

"That's not possible," he said bluntly. "I am not or even thinking of courting anyone and my parents never arranged a betrothal for me."

"Actually, they sort of did," she said slowly. Sasuke frowned further but waited for her to continue. "Before your clan...passed away, your father and mother agreed to have their eldest heir fulfill any part of the alliance agreement that needed to be fulfilled by a member of the noble class in Fire. Part of the agreement is a formal marriage between a noble chosen from Wind and a noble chosen from Fire with a heir to be produced within at least the first five years. Now, Wind has already told us who they've chosen for the marriage and normally this duty would fall on the eldest heir but your brother..." she trailed off, not sure how to continue. Itachi Uchiha was a sore subject in the Land of Fire.

Sasuke grimaced. "My brother is no longer here," he finished for her bluntly.

Tsunade nodded. "Yes. As there is no other Uchiha, the duty falls to you."

The man scowled. "Surely there is another noble who can do it. I'm not even straight."

_'Ha! I win that bet Jiraiya!'_ the woman thought in triumph. "Yes, well, I never said that the person Wind chose was a girl."

Sasuke stared at her. "What? They chose a boy? How do they expect an heir to be produced?"

Suddenly looking forward to seeing Sasuke's reaction to the news she said, "An heir will be produced. The boy they chose is a Carrier."

The Shinobi's eyes widened. For good reason too, Carriers were rare individuals in their lands, part of why they got special treatment. She watched as comprehension started to dawn on his face. "There's only one Carrier in Wind right now," he said slowly. "That means the person they chose is...Naruto?"

Tsunade nodded, hiding a smile at the slightly panicked look Sasuke had on his face. _'I take it back, this job is fun sometimes'_

"They want me to marry Naruto?" he asked slowly, as if testing to make sure he was right.

"I tried to talk them out of it, Uchiha, but they were quite insistent. They wouldn't pick any other noble from their country either; it's almost as if they're eager to get rid of him," she said with an apologetic shrug.

Sasuke sighed, getting over his surprise, "They probably are. Naruto and the council have never gotten along."

The woman raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"No. He was constantly playing pranks on them when we were kids. Probably still does, knowing him." He looked back up at Tsunade. "You're sure there's no one else who can do this?"

Tsunade shook her head. "All the other noble families either have children who are too young, already in engagements, married, or they're involved in a relationship. I refuse to break any relationships just for an alliance treaty."

Sasuke scowled. "But you'll force me into a marriage I don't want?"

The woman shrugged. "Yes, well, you're not in a relationship are you? Besides, it's your duty to your family so unless you want to dishonor them I think you better get used to the idea." It was low to use duty and honor against the Uchiha, those were things that had been drilled into each and every clan member from the time they were babies, but a Queen had to do what a Queen had to do. Sasuke sighed and then schooled his face into his usual impassive mask.

"I will honor my family and do my duty," he said stiffly. "I will marry Naruto Uzumaki."

TO BE CONTINUED...

TERMS FOR THIS WORLD:

**Carrier:** A boy who is able to conceive children. They are usually recognized at birth due to strange markings on their bodies that appear. Usually the result of a human and demon mating. Carriers are seen as ways for men who are interested in men to have children which can happen quite often in noble families so they are given noble status when they are found and taken to live in whatever palace is closest. They are given lessons from birth to train them for their roles as a nobleman's spouse. They tend to be treated as pariahs though; they are given special treatment, but they are kind of seen as freaks by most people.  
**Shinobi:** A special type of agent who works for whatever kingdom they come from. They specialize in protecting the royals and the people of the lands. They don't get involved in wars but do try to prevent them from happening, which is why there is the occasional assassination mission. Shinobi have special training using chakra and you have to be invited to learn their techniques. All Shinobi train/live full time at the city of Konaha, a place seen as neutral teritory that is literally in the middle of the five main kingdoms (Fire, Wind, Water, Air, Earth). A uniform and katana is granted to shinobi when they are recognized as a fully trained Shinobi.


	2. Part I: Chapter 1

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

RATING: R/M, NC-17 in one or two parts.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters; I'm just a lowly fangirl.

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaara, KibaHina, ShikaIno, LeeSaku.

SUMMARY: Sasuke heads towards Wind Palace and starts to reminisce about his friendship with Naruto Uzuamaki.

AUTHOR NOTES: Thank you all who've reviewed! A little warning: a lot of the first half of this fic is going to be flashbacks to Naruto and Sasuke's childhood; sorry if people get annoyed by flashbacks but it's necessary to the story.

CHAPTER 1:

_Fire Palace Grounds_

Sasuke walked towards the stables in a slight daze. His mind was still trying to get around the shocking news that the Queen had told him and the duty that he was now expected to fulfill. _'I suppose there are worse things then being married to Naruto'_ he thought absentmindedly.

But still, the idea of marrying the boy took some getting used too. He vaguely wondered how Naruto was taking the news. When they were younger Naruto had always vehemently stated that he wasn't going to marry anyone who he didn't love and who didn't love him back. When Sasuke had asked what would happen if he didn't find anyone then the blonde had grinned cheekily and said, "Then I'll just marry you, Sasuke!" The Shinobi shook his head at the memory; Naruto had always been a strange kid.

Of course now, Naruto was probably going to be pissed at him when he got to Wind Palace. Not only had he left without a word five years ago, but he hadn't exactly been in touch, and now to add insult to injury he was going to be the one that Naruto was going to be forced to marry. _'Forget pissed, he's going to hate me.'_

When Sasuke arrived at the stables he found Kakashi Hatake waiting for him. The silver-haired Shinobi was leaning casually against a wood post with a book in his hands. Knowing him, it was a porn book of some kind. Kakashi looked up and smiled, or he would've smiled if the bottom half of his face hadn't been covered by the long necked shirt underneath his green tunic. Sasuke didn't know why he covered up half his face; it was just something the eccentric man had always done ever since he met him years ago.

"So, what did the Queen want?" Kakashi asked looking at him curiously.

Sasuke sighed. "She informed me that I'm betrothed."

The Shinobi's brown eyes widened then he stared in confusion. "I don't recall your parents setting up a betrothal."

"Remember the alliance that was being set up between Fire and Wind when we left?" he asked. Kakashi blinked and then comprehension dawned.

"Ah, I see. I'd forgotten about that. So who's the lucky girl?" he asked teasingly.

"Boy," Sasuke muttered.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Boy? How do they expect an heir?"

"The boy's a Carrier," he said shortly. He watched as Kakashi started to realize who he was talking about. Then, just as he expected, the Shinobi burst into laughter. "It's not funny," he growled.

"I beg to differ," Kakashi said when he sobered. "You and Naruto, oh that is too good. How did the Queen manage that one?"

"Doesn't matter how; what matters is that now I'm being forced to marry Naruto," he grumbled and started to brush his horse, more to keep busy then because the horse needed it.

Kakashi shrugged. "Well, at least it's Naruto. You could do a lot worse; it could be someone you don't even know."

Sasuke snorted. "I've been away for five years. I can hardly claim to know Naruto anymore."

"We'll see," Kakashi murmured and went back to his book.

Sasuke was grateful for the silence that followed; it gave him time to think and to remember…

_Wind Palace Grounds, eleven years ago,_

_Wind Palace was much quieter then Fire Palace, Sasuke thought. To the seven-year-old it was a relief from the constant hustle and bustle of Fire. He was grateful to have a chance to train under the great swordsman Kakashi Hatake. Not only was this a chance to improve himself, it got him away from his slightly overbearing parents and the long shadow that his brother Itachi left. Here, he didn't have to be Sasuke Uchiha, second heir or little brother of Itachi Uchiha; here, maybe he could find someone who saw him as Sasuke_

_'Of course it's going to be hard to improve my swordsmanship if Master Hatake never shows up' he thought in slight irritation. He'd been here only a week and his first impression of the man he was to be training under until he was eighteen was not a good one. The man seemed to be lazy, a flirt, lied half the time, and was never on time. It was odd enough that the man covered up the bottom half of his face and had silver hair despite the fact that he was only in his thirties, but he was eccentric to boot. _

_To the serious Uchiha this was hard to deal with. He was used to adults behaving like…well adults. Kakashi seemed to be a teenage boy in a thirty-year old body. He always overslept, he was forever reading naughty novels even with a kid present, and Sasuke had seen him flirt on several occasions though mostly with a young man with brown hair pulled into a pony-tail and a serious expression on his face; Sasuke didn't know the man's name._

_Sasuke didn't really care about this, what annoyed him the most was that the man was forever late to their training sessions. When he finally did show up he always had the most ridiculous excuses. This was why he was currently waiting in the palace gardens with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. If he hadn't have seen Kakashi in action the past week, he would've never have believed that the man was as great as everyone said and would've left a long time ago._

_Finally growing tired of waiting he started to practice the basic sword movements on his own. A little while later he became aware of eyes watching him and frowned towards the bushes; they were the only place anyone could hide in the clearing. "Who's there?" he demanded, turning apprehensively to the plants. _

_The bushes rustled and Sasuke heard a voice yelp quietly and smirked, the person had discovered the thorns on the bush. "It's no use trying to pretend you're not there," he said; he had relaxed the stance he'd taken. The voice he heard had been small and sounded no older then him._

_"Be quiet! I'm trying to hide!" the voice hissed. Sasuke tilted his head at the odd statement and walked towards the bushes, when he stood directly in front of them he bent and peered into the branches and blinked when he looked directly into a pair of big jewel-like blue eyes. _

_Before he could enquire why the person was hiding the sound of footsteps came and he straightened up just in time to see a group of men run into the clearing. He recognized several of them as part of the king's council and couldn't help but stare at the paint that was splattered across their blue robes. _

_They all stopped when they saw him and bowed. One of them (Sasuke racked his brain for the man's name but gave up) stepped forward and asked, "Excuse us, Lord Uchiha, but have you seen a blonde boy run past by any chance?"_

_Sasuke grimaced at the Lord Uchiha part; he hated to be called that, in his mind Lord Uchiha was his father. Out of the corner of his eye he glanced at the bushes. "No, I haven't."_

_"Oh," the man said in disappointment. "Well, we'll be on our way then." He glanced at the others with him. "Let's try the stables next." Then they all hurried away._

_When they were all out of sight and earshot he looked at the bushes and said, "You can come out now; they're all gone."_

_A small head of blonde hair poked out of the bushes. "Really?" _

_Sasuke nodded. Then the boy grinned and squirmed out of the branches. "Hey, thanks for the save! It was nice of you not to rat me out; I owe you one!" _

_Now that the boy was out of the bushes Sasuke studied him in slight curiosity. He looked to be about his age and had messy blond hair that went in every which direction and big cerulean blue eyes that studied him right back. He was a little smaller then Sasuke and wore black pants rolled up to the knee and an orange shirt that he noticed was also covered in paint. The strangest thing was that he had odd looking whisker marks on his cheeks and he was barefoot. _

_Sasuke had never seen anything like him. _

_The blonde eventually got tired of looking at each other and stuck out his hand, "Hi, I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki. Who're you? Never seen you around."_

_Sasuke hesitated and then shook the boy's hand. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha." He waited for impressed look that usually came over people's faces when they heard he was an Uchiha and blinked when all Naruto did was grin and say, "Nice to meet you!"_

_Not really sure what to make of him, Sasuke just nodded. _

_"So are you going to be here long?" the boy asked eagerly. "Sometimes kids my age come but then they leave right away before we can become friends. It's really boring being the only kid around."_

_"I'll be here until I complete my training," he said, taken aback by how fast the kid was talking._

_Naruto tilted his head. "What're you training for?"_

_Before Sasuke could answer, his teacher chose that moment to enter the clearing. "I apologize for being late; I had to help a young man carry all his books," he announced as he arrived. _

_Naruto snorted at the man. "Yeah right, you were probably bothering Iruka-sensei again!" _

_Sasuke glanced at the blonde in surprise; shouldn't he be showing more respect towards Kakashi? The man was a world-renowned warrior after all. _

_"Ah, Naruto, there you are. Iruka was looking for you earlier," Kakashi said. _

_The boy blanched. "Ah, my lessons! I totally forgot about them! Iruka-sensei's going to kill me!" With that he ran off, but not before shouting back, "I'll see you tomorrow, Sasuke!"_

_Sasuke blinked and wondered when he'd given the boy permission to use his first name and what he meant by saying he'd see him tomorrow. Kakashi noticed him staring after the blonde in bewilderment and chuckled._

_"Don't worry; most people feel that way after meeting Naruto for the first time. You get used to him."_

_That had been his first encounter with Naruto Uzumaki; he would have many more until eventually accepting the fact that he and the boy were best friends…_

Sasuke smiled a little to himself as he remembered that. Naruto had still been just as bewildering and hyper when he left too and that had been when he was thirteen. 'I wonder what he's like now' he thought as he put the horses brush away.

"So what now?" Kakashi asked, looking up from his book.

"I have to go to Wind Palace and meet up with Naruto, and then the two of us are to go to Konoha and have the wedding ceremony."

Kakashi quickly calculated, "So two months travel to Wind Palace, then another month to Konoha hmm?"

Sasuke nodded.

"It should be an interesting few months," the man murmured.

He quietly agreed. _'That's assuming of course that Naruto doesn't kill me on sight when I arrive in Wind…'_

AUTHOR NOTES: I know the memory!Sasuke seems a little mature for a kid but remember, he was raised by the Uchihas so he's going to be slightly more mature then the average seven year old. Other things, like why Kakashi is traveling with Sasuke and why he left in the first place will be explained in time.

LAND OF ELEMENT NOTES:

FIVE MAIN KINGDOMS: Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, Air

STATE OF LAND: Relatively peaceful but occasionally war will break out among villages. Alliances tend to be formed between the lands to ensure that things remain peaceful and bring more benefits to both countries/villages such as free trade, free movement among countries, and help in wars etc. To break an alliance is considered the ultimate disgrace.

KONOHA: Konoha is considered to be the capital of The Land of Elements. It is neutral territory and is where much trade, government, and functions take place. The training school and headquarters for Shinobi is located here so many Shinobi live here. When things such as peace talks, treaty signings, or alliance formalities need to take place it is usually done in the large city of Konoha.


	3. Chapter 2

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

RATING: R/M to NC-17 for one or two parts

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or any of its wonderful characters. That honor goes to Kishimoto ;bows to his genius;

SUMMARY: Naruto has just learned that he is betrothed and he is not pleased. NOT AT ALL.

PAIRING: SasuNaru, eventual KakaIru, NejiGaara, LeeSaku, various others.

WARNING: This is shaping up to be a long fic, for those who just want a sex fic, I suggest you go elsewhere because it's going to take awhile for the boys to get to that point (though there will be lots of UST in the meantime). There is also going to be mention of MPreg though it isn't going to be really detailed.

AUTHOR NOTES: Thank you all who reviewed the last part. Weren't chibi!Sasuke and chibi!Naruto cute? I'll be honest and say that scene was most of my motivation for writing this fic.

CHAPTER 2:

_Wind Palace, Two Months Later,_

Naruto Uzumaki officially hated his life.

Sure, every eighteen-year-old said that at one point in their life but he was probably the only one who actually had a valid reason to hate his. The blond mentally went through his list of reasons as he angrily hit the punching bag in front of him.

The first reason was his whole situation. In his opinion, being a Carrier sucked. Sure, you got to live in a palace and were given noble status but you weren't free to live your own life. His whole life he'd been cooped up in Wind Palace, not able to go where he wanted, and meet new people. To him the palace seemed like a prison sometimes; was it any wonder he resorted to pranks just to liven things up?

The second reason kind of tied in with the first reason. Because he was a Carrier noble families saw him as a way to have heirs even if one of their only sons happened to be gay. Ninety-nine percent of the time they didn't give a hoot about him, just inspected his looks. He scowled as he remembered the family that came to inspect him last month and the arrogant son who'd had the nerve to grope him. Then the blond smirked as he recalled the sharp yelp of pain the man gave when he punched him and the way they'd hurried off. Iruka had scolded him for his behavior but Naruto could tell his heart hadn't been in it; his guardian hadn't cared for the family either.

But the third reason was why he now officially hated his life. The first two he could deal with. Noble families were pretty easy to scare away and he'd pretty much gotten used to being prisoner (though that didn't stop him from trying to escape now and then). But this…this he couldn't get out of.

"I can't believe they're forcing me to get married!" he suddenly shouted and with an angry punch hit the bag. He couldn't get out of this one either; the marriage was tied into the long-awaited alliance between Fire and Wind. If he refused to do it, not only would he be disgracing himself and Wind, but he'd be breaking the alliance and ruin years of negotiation and friendship between the two countries. Then, if Fire decided to go to war over the issue it would again, be his fault. He was pretty sure the council new this too. "Assholes," Naruto muttered as he thought about the pompous men that made up the Kings advisors. He had never gotten along with them and now this was their perfect chance to finally get rid of him.

The more he thought about his situation the more furious he became. "They don't even know the guy's name!" he yelled in outrage and hit the bag again. "He's arriving tomorrow and they didn't see fit to tell me I'm betrothed until yesterday!" The punch he gave for that statement caused the string that was holding the makeshift punching bag to give and the bag sailed through the air and hit the wall with a rather satisfying thump.

"Overdoing it a bit aren't you?" a voice came from the door and Naruto turned to see his guardian, Iruka Umino leaning against the door and looking at the sand filled bag on the floor with a raised eyebrow. Iruka was a slim man in his early thirties with long dark hair pulled into a pony-tail and dark intelligent eyes. The most unusual thing about him was the scar that ran strait across his nose from one cheek to the other.

Iruka was the one the king had appointed to look after him and teach him ever since he arrived at the castle. The man had pretty much raised him and was the closest thing to a father he had, though he never said anything. The two of them weren't ones for talking about things like that.

"No I don't think so," Naruto retorted. "In fact, I don't think I've nearly done enough to show them how pissed I am!"

Iruka snorted. "You yelled at them for one full hour; wrote each of them a letter stating precisely what you thought of them, none of which was flattering; you then proceeded to booby-trap all their doors last night. Have I left anything out?"

"Last night, when I went to see Konohamaru, I called the King several nasty names in different languages," the blond offered with a smirk.

The man sighed. "Anyway, I think you got your point across."

"Lot of good it did me," Naruto grumbled. "I still have to marry this jerk."

Iruka raised an eyebrow. "How do you know he's a jerk?"

"He's a noble isn't he?"

His teacher sighed. "That doesn't necessarily mean anything, Naruto. You never know, you might grow to like him. Maybe even fall in love with him."

"Yeah right," Naruto snorted_. 'I'm never going to fall in love'_ he thought stubbornly_. 'Not after last time.'_

Just as Iruka started to open his mouth (most likely to lecture him on something or other) Konohamaru darted into the room. Despite the fact that he and the king didn't always see eye to eye Naruto got along pretty well with his grandson. The kid had come to live in the palace about four years ago and had latched onto Naruto pretty quick. Nowadays the two of them wreaked havoc together among the residents of the castle.

"Hey, Konohamaru!" Naruto greeted, smiling for the first time that day. He couldn't help it, Konohamaru was rather goofy looking and cute so you couldn't help but smile when you saw the kid.

"Naruto! Grandpa's looking for you!"

Iruka sighed. "What did you do now?"

The blond shrugged. "Nothing. Well, not since the booby traps last night anyway, and he already yelled at me for that."

Konohamaru shook his head. "You're not in trouble. He says your betrothed has arrived."

"Already?" Naruto moaned. "I thought he wasn't going to be here until tomorrow!"

The kid shrugged. "I guess he arrived early. Grandfather says you're to come as soon as possible to the throne room."

Naruto sighed. "Fine." As he started to head for the door Iruka frowned.

"Aren't you going to clean up a bit first?" he asked, nodding at his appearance. Naruto looked down at himself, noting the wrinkled orange shirt, old black rolled up pants and his bare feet. He also didn't look his best either since due to his workout his blond hair was even messier then usual, he was sweaty, and sand from the torn bag had made it onto to his face somehow.

"I look fine," he said.

Konohamaru snorted and Iruka frowned further. "Naruto, you're a mess."

The blond shrugged. "Well, this is what I normally look like anyway so the guy is going to have to get used to it don't you think?"

Beside him, Konohamaru laughed and said, "He's got a point."

Iruka sighed and watched as Naruto left. "I almost feel sorry for the representative of Fire," he muttered.

Sasunarusasu

Even though he deliberately took the long way and dawdled as much as he could possibly get away with; Naruto felt like it was way too soon when he reached the entrance to the throne room. He stood for several minutes staring at the front doors trying to decide whether or not he should go in or make a break for it.

Finally he took a deep breath, straightened up his shoulders, and walked into the throne room. He was greeted with the now familiar sight of the large circular room with massive columns and the King sitting opposite of the entrance with his six advisors/council sitting on either side of him. Standing in front of them with his back facing Naruto was a tall man wearing a black cloak with his hood still covering his face. Figuring that this man must be the one he was betrothed too, he took the time to stick out his tongue at the man's back before making his presence known.

The minute he came into view the King frowned at him. "Naruto, where have you been? You've kept your betrothed waiting."

The blond shrugged. "I got lost."

The King rolled his eyes. "Somehow I doubt that."

One of the councilmen (he never did remember any of their names and so named them by numbers) leaned forward. "Naruto, you are being rude to our guest."

The blond frowned and tilted his head in confusion. "How can I have been rude to him? I haven't said anything to him yet."

"Precisely," the man said.

"Huh?"

The man next to him snorted quietly and muttered. "Dobe."

Naruto turned to him furiously. "What did you call me!"

Though he couldn't see the others face due to the cloak's hood, he could tell by the tone of the man's voice that he was smirking. "I called you a Dobe."

The blond scowled. "Listen up, Bastard. There's only one person that I might, and I do mean might, let get away with calling me that and you're not h…" his voice trailed off as the man pulled back the hood of his cloak and looked at him with an unreadable expression.

He might have grown some, and had a deeper voice, but Naruto would know those black eyes anywhere. "Sasuke…" he whispered, feeling a little stunned. He stared at the other man in shock and probably would have continued to do so if Kakashi Hatake hadn't decided to pop up behind him.

"Yo!" he said, causing the blond to shout and spin around with a fist that the man caught. "Is that anyway to greet someone you haven't seen in five years?"

"You!" Naruto said in surprise, and then he scowled. "That's what you get for sneaking up on people!"

The man just chuckled. "Nice to see you haven't changed, Naruto. Though I must admit, I thought you'd be a little taller."

Naruto felt his forehead twitch; his height had always been a sensitive issue with him. While he wasn't a complete midget, he'd never grown past five foot five. "Shut up!"

Before Kakashi could respond they all heard a sharp gasp and turned to see Iruka standing in the entrance staring at Kakashi in surprise. He and Kakashi regarded each other for several seconds until Kakashi's eyes crinkled and he said. "Iruka-sensei, you look as lovely as ever."

Iruka frowned slightly at that and then said stiffly, "Hatake-sensei. Nice to see you; you too Sasuke." Sasuke nodded at him.

Naruto noticed Kakashi flinch a little at the formal tone in the man's voice and would have felt sorry for the man, but then it was the man's own fault.

The King cleared his throat. "Well, now that you all know who you are, we need to discuss the plans for the ceremony."

"There's not going to be one," Naruto said. "Because I'm not marrying HIM." He pointed as Sasuke just to be sure they all realized who he was talking about.

"Lord Uchiha is the one that was chosen for Fire. You don't have a choice," one of the councilmen on the King's left stated.

Naruto stomped his foot, "I don't care! I'm not marrying him!"

"We don't have a choice, Naruto," Sasuke suddenly spoke up. The blond looked at him. "So stop acting childish and just accept it."

The blond stared at him and suddenly felt all his anger at Sasuke well up inside him. With a furious glare he walked right up to Sasuke until they were standing directly in front of each other. Sasuke looked back at him impassively which made him even angrier. "Don't call me Naruto," he hissed at the man. "You lost that right a long time ago."

Then he stormed out of the throne room, determined to get as far as away from Sasuke Uchiha as possible.

AUTHOR NOTES: Finally. This part took me the longest to write…Hopefully the next one won't take as long. PLEASE REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 3

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters; that honor goes to Kishimoto.

RATING: R/M

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaara, LeeSaku, ShikaIno, KibaHina and others.

SUMMARY: Naruto remembers the end of his friendship with Sasuke who is trying to figure out how to make amends.

AUTHOR NOTES: Thank you all who reviewed the last part. This chapter will most likely clear up why Naruto is so mad at Sasuke.

CHAPTER 3:

Behind the palace of Wind were large grounds filled with magnificent gardens that had been the Queen's pride and joy when she'd been alive. Naruto had been six when she had died and so barely remembered her, but he did remember that she had found him quite funny and had been one of the few people in the palace who hadn't minded his hi-jinks. Out of respect for his beloved wife the King had made sure to keep the gardens up long after her death. So there were plenty of private areas on the grounds to be alone. Naruto knew all of them better then anybody, probably even the King himself.

One of his favorite private places was in the very back of the grounds. A river flowed through the property and the landscaper had made a little private sitting nook that sat on the riverbank. There was a bench with a large weeping willow; it was the perfect place to be alone and Naruto found that when he was upset, the sound of the river calmed him sometimes.

This was why when he stormed out of the throne room he immediately headed to that area. At least here no one would bother him. If anyone thought he was going to go back there they had another thing coming. The blond sat down at the bench and scowled at the river. His mind kept going through the scene in the throne room over and over again. 'Stupid Sasuke,' he thought furiously. _'Why'd he have to come back! I was starting to forget him, damn it!'_

The blond drew his knees up to his chest and stared out at the river, remembering…

_Wind Palace Grounds, Five Years Ago,_

_Thirteen year old Naruto hummed happily to himself as he casually walked down a large hallway of Wind Palace. Only his pride stopped him from skipping. _'Sasuke's coming home tomorrow!'_ he thought giddily. His best friend had been gone for almost five months so he could see his family and show them how he'd improved. He and Kakashi did this every other summer, the summers they didn't visit the boy's parents came to Wind. Each time Sasuke left, Naruto always missed his best friend; he even missed Kakashi sometimes because even though the man was a lazy pervert, he was cool and fun to be around sometimes._

_This year though he missed his best friend even more. Though it was probably because now he realized he was quite possibly in love with his best friend. He was pretty sure it was love at least. Being thirteen, he didn't have much experience in this department but all the books he'd read in the palace library described the feelings he'd been having around Sasuke as love. If it wasn't love, it was a very strong crush. _

_It was the only explanation. He loved to be around Sasuke and felt warm inside when the other was near. His heart always sped up around the other and his stomach felt like it had a bunch of butterflies in it when the other boy smiled at him (which was rarely, but it did happen). He loved hearing the other boy speak; his voice was a little deeper then Naruto's and was so soothing sometimes, especially when he'd had a bad day. _

_But most telling of all was that when he thought about his future and the fact that he would have to marry someone just to bear an heir he got incredibly upset; however, when he pictured Sasuke as the one he married, he didn't mind the idea so much. _

_He hadn't told Sasuke yet, at least not right away; he'd been dropping hints right and left and was down right flirting with him sometimes. He was fairly certain Sasuke hadn't caught on yet though because if he had the boy would have said something. The blond snickered, _'and he calls me a dunce'

_Naruto headed down the hall that led past the throne room and paused when he heard the name Uchiha. Excited at the thought that maybe his friend had come home early he snuck through the open doors and hid behind one of the large columns and looked into the room. His teacher and guardian Iruka stood in the center of the room looking at the King and the councilmen who were looking very serious as Iruka spoke._

_"…I just can't believe this has happened. Are you absolutely positive about this?"_

_The King nodded solemnly. "There is no mistake. The entire Uchiha clan was murdered by Itachi Uchiha. Sasuke was the only survivor and that's most likely because he hadn't been there at the time."_

_Naruto clamped a hand over his mouth to keep the gasp of horror he let out from being heard. _'What! Itachi murdered the clan? Oh Gods, poor Sasuke!'_ It was bad enough that the clan was gone, but the fact that it had been Itachi made it ten times worse. Sasuke worshiped his older brother, the few times Naruto had met him the blond found him slightly disturbing and always felt on edge around him, but nothing he said could convince his best friend that his brother was anything but a great warrior and hero._

_"But why is he going away though? I would think he would want to finish his training with Kakashi," Iruka said asked. Naruto blinked, _'he's going away! To where!'

_The King sighed. "Kakashi-sensei is going to be going with him. The man feels that Shinobi training will be good for Sasuke, it will help him work through his grief, and accomplish his goal of bringing Itachi to justice."_

_Naruto was still getting past the whole Sasuke was leaving part._

_"Shinobi training takes years though," Iruka protested. "What about Kakashi-sensei's duties here?"_

_"We've appointed a new captain of the guard. Kakashi was appointed guardian to Sasuke until he comes of age by his parents in their will so he his now responsible for the boy."_

_"So they're not coming back?" Iruka asked in a dull voice. _

_"No."_

_At that, Naruto fled from the room. He ran through the halls to Sasuke's room in the castle only to find it full with maids packing up books and trinkets that Naruto had grown familiar with over the years. When he saw one of the maids put in one of Sasuke's favorite books in a box he felt tears start to gather in his eyes and fled to his room. _

_A few minutes later he heard a knock on his door and Iruka came in. The man gazed at him for awhile and asked softly, "You heard, didn't you?"_

_Naruto silently nodded into his pillow. "Why would Itachi murder the clan? His own family! Why would he do that!"_

_He felt the bed dip with Iruka's weight and a hand came to rest on his back. "I don't know, Naruto, no one does. But he did, and right now Sasuke is hurting very much."_

_"Well why does he have to go away? I'm his best friend, I can help him!" The blond turned to look at his guardian. "He once said I was the only one who could cheer him up!"_

_Iruka smiled sadly. "Right now, going away is the best thing for him. He needs to train, work through his grief. I'm sure he'll keep in touch."_

_"Will he ever come back?" Naruto whispered._

_Iruka hesitated, and said reluctantly, "I don't know."_

_If there was one thing in the world Naruto hated, it was crying. In his opinion, crying was useless. But hearing that he might never see Sasuke again; might never get to tell him that he loved him, the blond just couldn't stop from sobbing._

_It took awhile, but he started to grow used to not having Sasuke around. That hurt, it hurt worse when he did not receive any letters or news about his friend over the next few years. As time passed he blocked the hurt and concentrated on not thinking about his friend anymore, or the love that could have been…_

_'I'm over it too'_ Naruto firmly thought to himself. Yes, he was most definitely over Sasuke Uchiha. He repeated this to himself over and over in his head because maybe, after a little while, he would start to believe it and not remember the pounding of his heart when black eyes settled on him in the throne room.

Sasunarusasunaru

Sasuke couldn't get any sleep. It felt strange being back in the old room he'd lived in during his time here. So many memories were linked to this room, most of which involved Naruto. He pursed his lips as his mind once again wandered to his friend, or former friend as the blond had made clear earlier.

_'I knew that he'd be hurt that I'd hadn't kept in touch and up and left like that but still, I wasn't expecting him to be THIS mad'_ he thought as he lay on his bed staring at the ceiling.

He was also a little more then pissed at the King and the council for not telling Naruto about his betrothal earlier. Sure, they didn't know Sasuke would be the one coming, but they'd chosen Naruto to be their representative from the start, according to Queen Tsunade and the alliance had been written up a good three months ago. He felt a spark of outrage at the men for not telling Naruto the minute the idea got into their heads. _'He's not only still adjusting to the fact that he's going to be married in a few weeks, he's now got adjust to the fact that he's going to be married to ME. Those idiots made this even harder for me! It's also not fair to Naruto at all. He should have been told about all of this from the beginning.'_

Sasuke took a few breaths to calm himself and thought out a plan. _'We have to stay here a week to get refreshed and do all that ceremonial junk, then we have a month and a half worth of travel to Konoha. That's plenty of time to get things straightened out with Naruto; or at least to get him to talk to me civilly again.' _

He was going to make things right with Naruto again if it was the last thing he did.

AUTHOR NOTES: Wow, fast update huh? This is what happens when your muses won't freaking leave you alone.


	5. Chapter 4

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. That's why this is FANfiction. I do however own this plot and setting idea so no stealing without permission!

RATING: R to NC-17 for some parts

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaara, LeeSaku, ShikaIno, KibaHina, others.

AUTHOR NOTES: Thank you all who reviewed. I'm glad you enjoyed the fast update. Don't expect that to be a regular occurrence though.

CHAPTER 4:

The evening after his arrival in Wind, Sasuke looked at his image in the mirror with a grimace. If there was one thing he detested, it was social gatherings. They just were not his forte; he was not really sociable by nature so it was understandable. In his opinion, one of the perks of being a Shinobi was the fact that no one expected him to go to stupid events such as this one.

He had protested yesterday when the council informed him of the party that was half a celebration of the treaty, and half engagement party for him and Naruto, but they all insisted. Tradition was very important to the people in their lands, they had customs and ways of doing all sorts of things; going against those customs and traditions was heavily frowned upon.

So there was no way he was getting out of this party. That was why he was currently glaring at the image of himself in full Shinobi dress uniform. It was pretty much the same as his regular uniform: black shirt, black slacks, black boots, and a navy blue tunic over the shirt. The only difference was that his sash was now made of gold shiny material and there was gold edging on his blue tunic. For once he didn't have his sword hanging in its scabbard either; though to make himself feel more comfortable he hid two kunai knives in his sleeves just in case.

"I highly doubt you'll need the Kunais," Kakashi greeted him from the door to his room. Sasuke shrugged at him.

"You never know," he said. He glanced at his guardian and raised an eyebrow. At the fancy green tunic he wore. This was the first time he'd ever seen the man get dressed up. Ever. "Trying to impress Iruka-sensei?"

Kakashi snorted from underneath his mask. "You and I both know appearances don't impress him. But, if this gets me on his good side…"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Why don't you try apologizing to him?"

"Why don't you apologize to Naruto?" the man retorted.

"I've TRIED," he gritted his teeth. "The man's no where to be found."

"I'm sure he'll be at the party. He'll probably be tied to a chair by Iruka, but he'll be there."

Sasuke snorted. "Probably. But I honestly don't think apologies are going to cut it."

Kakashi sighed. "No. Probably not. But it's a good start; you just focus on your courtship and I'll handle mine."

Sasuke frowned and looked at Kakashi weirdly. "Who said I was courting Naruto?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you?"

"No," he said. "I just want our friendship to be okay again."

"But what about the marriage?"

Sasuke frowned at his teacher. What is he trying to get at? "What about it? The marriage is part of my duty; I can't help the fact that they chose Naruto, but at least it's not some simpering female."

"So there's nothing going on with you two?" the man asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

Sasuke was starting to feel a little irritated. "No. Why would you think there was?"

Kakashi coughed. "Oh, no reason. None at all. We better get going."

He watched his teacher leave and shook his head. _'What was that about?'_

Sasunarusasunaru

The minute he entered the large banquet hall of the palace Sasuke sincerely wished he had brought his sword. It was packed with not only nobles from Wind and other countries but he recognized a few off-duty Shinobi, though none he interacted with on a daily basis, and people who were basically the cream of the crop of high society. The wishing for his sword became even more intense when the man who greeted him at the door informed him that he was to be seated right next to Naruto.

_'If I make it through this night without a black eye, it'll be a miracle'_ he thought as he reluctantly made his way to the table the man pointed too. He glanced at Naruto and resisted the urge to roll his eyes when he saw the blond man sitting with his arms crossed and a pout adorning his face. _'You wouldn't know he was only a few months younger then me.'_

Still, there was no denying that Naruto had grown up. He couldn't really stop himself from staring at the other out of the corner of his eye all through dinner. Yesterday he'd been too preoccupied with the surreal feeling of being back in Wind to really notice any of Naruto's changes, besides he hadn't really been looking his best the other day either (probably something that had been the blond's attempt to annoy the council). But now he could really see how much Naruto had changed.

He was a little taller, though not as tall as Sasuke, and his body had filled out into a slim, yet muscular figure that was a smooth golden tan color. His wild hair had been slightly tamed for the evening making it look more tousled then wild and out of control like it tended to be. He'd lost most of his baby fat leaving behind a more heart-shaped face that made his blue-eyes look even more vivid. About the only thing that was the same were the whisker marks on his cheeks, but those were the marks of his carrier status; so they would always be there.

As Sasuke studied the changes in his friend he couldn't help but come up with one word to describe him: stunning. This really shouldn't have been as much as a revelation to him as it was; the fact was, most carriers were good-looking, it was a common characteristic. Naruto had always been a rather cute adorable kid; now he was well…beautiful.

"What are you staring at?" Naruto finally snapped at him about halfway through dinner.

He looked away quickly. "Nothing."

Naruto frowned at him suspiciously and then went back to his dinner.

That had been the most interaction that the two had. He honestly tried to open his mouth to apologize but every time he did he looked at Naruto and the words just sounded lame even to his ears. Across from him, Kakashi wasn't having much luck with Iruka either. Sasuke couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for his teacher's predicament even though he wasn't really sure what exactly had happened between the two. He had his suspicions of course, anybody who had seen the way the two interacted before he and Kakashi had left had them, but he preferred to stay out of it. He and Kakashi had an unspoken agreement not to meddle in each other's personal lives, though that didn't stop the man from teasing him from time to time.

Iruka handled his anger with Kakashi very differently from his student. Instead of sulking childishly (at least that's what Sasuke thought of it) he was just very formal and polite. He didn't snap, but didn't offer any conversation either. Kakashi tried his best but was answered with short answers or just plain ignored. But Sasuke noticed he appeared to be softening somewhat towards the end of the dinner, so Kakashi had a slight chance of making whatever had happened between the two better.

He glanced at the stubbornly silent man next to him and sighed. _'If only Naruto were that easy.'_

After dinner was over Naruto practically ran from his seat and went over to talk to a small boy Sasuke didn't recognize. The kid was short and rather gawky looking with messy black hair that seemed to resemble Naruto's and round black eyes.

"That's Konohamaru," Iruka said suddenly from across the table. "He arrived here about two years or so after you did and became friends with Naruto."

"Hm," Sasuke replied, looking at the two across the room. "They seem close."

Iruka smiled slightly. "Konohamaru practically worships Naruto. He even calls him big brother sometimes. He's not going to be happy when Naruto leaves."

At that moment, while Naruto had turned to talk to two other children who had joined them, Konohamaru turned to look at him and stuck out his tongue. Sasuke glared at the kid and he gulped and then turned back to Naruto and the others. After Sasuke turned back to the table he was tapped on the shoulder and he turned and just barely resisted the urge to groan when he saw one of the councilmen behind him.

The man bowed. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Sir, but the orchestra is getting restless and are wondering when you are planning on beginning the dancing?"

Sasuke blinked and glanced over at the orchestra sitting next to the dance floor that had been cleared. "Why do they need my permission? They can just start playing when they want too."

The man sighed. "Sir, it's YOUR engagement party."

Sasuke looked at him. "I'm aware of that."

"It's custom for the engaged couple to start the dancing. No one will get up and dance unless the two of you have had your dance first."

Sasuke frowned and glanced at Iruka who nodded in confirmation. "Can't you just tell them Naruto and I give permission for them to start dancing?"

The man shook his head apologetically and Sasuke sighed and muttered. "Tell them Naruto and I will be ready in a few minutes."

As he left Sasuke got up and made his way over to Naruto. The blond turned when he tapped him on the shoulder and scowled when he saw him. "What do YOU want?"

He noticed the three children glaring at him as well and vaguely wondered what Naruto had been telling them about him after immediately deciding he was better off not knowing. "We have to dance."

Naruto stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"It's custom for the engaged couple to start the dancing at these things," he said.

The blond glared. "What the hell kind of rule is that?"

Keeping his temper in check he said, "I don't know, but the point is, we have to dance."

Naruto sighed and gritted out. "Fine." Sasuke held out his hand and Naruto glared at it. "I can find my own way to the dance floor," he said and brushed past him.

"Of course you can," Sasuke muttered.

When the two of them got to the center of the floor Naruto just looked at him with a glare, refusing to get into any kind of position to start the dance. Rolling his eyes at the man's stubbornness, Sasuke just placed a palm on the small of the blond's back and grabbed one of the hands hanging at the side and started to twirl him around when the music started.

As expected the blond was completely silent when they danced and he was pointedly refusing to look at Sasuke and made sure there was space between the two of them. But still, they danced the same way they'd always had: in perfect rhythm. As he gazed down at the blond head pointedly looking away from him, memories from the first time they danced surfaced in his mind…

_Wind Palace, six years ago,_

_Twelve-year-old Sasuke Uchiha wandered through the halls of Wind Palace intent on getting to his destination. He was a little lost though because this wasn't really a part of the castle that he ventured into often. Just then he heard a loud and familiar voice shout out._

_"NO WAY! I'M NOT DOING IT!"_

_Sasuke rolled his eyes and followed the direction he heard Naruto's voice coming from. He came to a door at the end of a hall and peered in to see Naruto glaring up at his teacher and rubbing the back of his head while Iruka lectured him._

_"…you have no choice in the matter, Naruto!"_

_"But Iruka-sensei!" Naruto whined. "It's EMBARRASSING!"_

_"It would be far more embarrassing for you not to know how at a function wouldn't it?" Iruka said, crossing his arms._

_Now intrigued, Sasuke coughed and walked into the room, making his presence known. Naruto beamed at him, "Hi, Sasuke!" _

_He nodded at the blond and looked at Iruka, "You asked to see me, Iruka-sensei?"_

_"Ah, Sasuke. Yes; you were given dancing lessons the last time you went home were you not?" Iruka asked._

_Blinking at the odd question, he slowly nodded. _

_Iruka smiled, "Excellent. You can be Naruto's partner while he learns." _

_"WHAT?" Naruto demanded. "Shouldn't my partner be a GIRL?"_

_His teacher sighed. "Naruto, you're a Carrier. In court, you'll be expected to dance with only men."_

_Naruto crossed his arms. "That's stupid! What if I want to dance with a girl who happens to be a friend?"_

_Sasuke snorted. "Like who? You don't know any females, Dobe; unless you plan on dancing with the councilmen's wives, though I think they're a little old for you."_

_The blond glared at him and stuck out his tongue. _

_Iruka shook his head. "Enough. Naruto, stop making faces at Sasuke, and both of you get into dancing position."_

_The two of them hesitated and Iruka glared. "That was not a suggestion." _

_They then hurried to the center of the room._

_It took a few stepped on feet on Sasuke's part before Iruka finally drilled it into the blond's head that he was supposed to be letting the other lead but once Naruto got the hang of it their dancing was flawless. It was in fact the first dance that Sasuke actually found himself enjoying. They had many afterwards and during each he found himself reluctant to let the blond go afterwards…_

Sasuke was jolted out of his memories when the waltz ended and Naruto pushed away from him and walked out of the room.

Sasunarusasunaru

Once he was outside of the room Naruto sighed and leaned against a wall in the empty hallway_. 'I can't believe them! What the hell kind of custom forces people to dance when they don't want too?' _he thought furiously.

It was going to take all his effort now to ignore the tingling in his body from where Sasuke had held him. "Bastard," he muttered half-heartedly.

AUTHOR NOTES: I know what you all are thinking: Sasuke honestly didn't know Naruto loved him nor was he in love with the blond? No, he isn't dense, he was just very focused on his training and learning that he didn't really think about things like love and honestly thought Naruto acted that way with all his friends. Later of course, he was focused on bringing his brother to justice which is pretty much why he didn't write.


	6. Chapter 5

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: You guys don't really think I own Naruto right? Well, just in case you do (in which case I'm extremely flattered) I don't. I just own this little plot bunny that seems to grown to about the size of my 12 pound cat.

RATING: R/M to NC-17 in some parts

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, eventual KakaIru, NejiGaara, LeeSaku, ShikaIno, KibaHina, others mentioned.

AUTHOR NOTES: As always, thanks for the reviews!

CHAPTER 5:

_Wind Palace Grounds_

A week after Sasuke's arrival, Naruto was enjoying what he saw as his last day of freedom. Tomorrow, he would be leaving Wind Palace for good, heading for Konoha to get married. _'Boy is it going to be a quiet trip'_ he thought, as he considered who was going with him to the city. He was mad at Sasuke and refusing to speak to him. Iruka was mad at Kakashi (though Naruto had yet to figure out why) and barely speaking to him. Besides that, Sasuke and Kakashi weren't the most talkative people to begin with_. 'Yup. VERY quiet trip.'_

While he wasn't looking forward to getting married at all, he was kind of excited about the trip. This would be his first time out of the Wind Palace grounds. Finally he would get to see some of the places Iruka had told him about or that he had read about in the palace library. He couldn't wait to get to Konoha. That place had always fascinated him. He knew all its legends, its history, EVERYTHING. Now he was finally going to be able to say he'd been there.

But a part of him was still sad about leaving everyone behind at Wind. Sure, Iruka would be going with him but he probably wouldn't be coming here ever again. Not unless Sasuke had any pressing business to attend to here or something. Sure, at times the palace had seemed like a restrictive prison, but it was still his home. He'd made several friends with the guards, who cheerfully let him escape easily when he'd played pranks. Some of the servants in the palace had been there since he was a toddler and looked after him when Iruka wasn't present; he and the cook were on real good terms as well.

Then of course there was Konohamaru and his two friends, Moegi and Udon; those three were a blast to hang out with, even if they were younger then him. He would even miss the Konohamaru's grandfather. He and the King might not have always seen eye to eye but he knew that the old man cared more then he admitted or showed.

_'So, how should I spend my last day?'_ he pondered. Then a smirk slowly graced his face as he thought of something and he went off to find Konohamaru, he was going to need the boy's help with this one.

SasuNaru

A few short hours later found Naruto and Konohamaru laughing their heads off in a field near the stables. The prank had been a phenomenal success. He grinned as he remembered the curses the councilmen had been flinging at the two of them as they ran. "Man that was great!" Naruto said, as he lay down onto the grass.

Konohamaru snickered. "Did you see the looks on their faces? Priceless!"

After much more laughter the two finally settled down into a comfortable silence. Konohamaru hesitated and then asked slowly, "Hey, big brother, are you nervous?"

Naruto blinked and looked at him questionably. "Huh? Nervous? About what?

"About your marriage."

"Oh. That," he muttered. "I haven't really thought about it." Which was true in a way; he'd been actively pushing all thoughts of the 'Sasuke situation' (as he'd dubbed it) out of his mind all week. He was determined to enjoy his last week of freedom.

But Sasuke sure hadn't been making that easy for him. The damn man had practically been stalking him all week, trying to get him to talk to him. Never mind that Naruto either a) ignored him, b) glared at him, or c) loudly called him insulting names making it clear that he didn't want to talk.

Ignoring Sasuke turned out to be rather hard so he usually ended up glaring at him or yelling at him. He hated feeling those eyes on him; it was as though the man was looking right through him and reading his every thought. The intensity of those black eyes made his skin tingle; it was distracting. Who could blame him for snapping at Sasuke? But the man didn't seem to get the hint; he'd still been following him around yesterday when he was trying to read in the library.

Just then, a shadow fell over him and the subject of his thoughts appeared. Naruto glared up at the man and sat up. "Go away," he snarled.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at him and Naruto silently willed his heart to stop pounding so hard. "We need to talk, Dobe."

"Sorry, I don't feel like talking," Naruto said, not sounding sorry at all. "Don't call me that either!"

Sasuke glared at him and knelt until he and the blond were face to face. Naruto's heart felt like he was running a marathon by this point.

"You WILL talk to me, Naruto," Sasuke said firmly. "If I have to drag you and tie you down until you talk, I will."

Naruto snorted. "I'd like to see you try, Bastard."

As soon as he said those words he felt like kicking himself. If there was one thing you shouldn't do, it was challenge Sasuke; not only would he take that challenge, he'd win it just to spite you. He'd lost count of how many times this had happened to him when they were kids.

Judging from the determined look that came to Sasuke's face, this characteristic hadn't changed. The next thing he knew a large hand gripped his bicep and yanked him to his feet as Sasuke stood up. Before Naruto could say anything a well-muscled arm wrapped around his torso and he yelped as he suddenly found himself thrown over Sasuke's shoulder like some bag of potatoes and blinked down at the grass he was now facing in astonishment.

As soon as he got over his shock, he started yelling. "What's the big idea, you jerk? Are you insane?" From his viewpoint he saw an upside down Konohamaru sitting on the grass still staring at them, looking torn between being indigent that his 'big brother' was being treated in such a way and bursting into laughter.

Naruto tried to use his legs to kick at Sasuke's chest since they were free but the man just grunted a little since he was barefoot and not wearing any shoes. The second arm came and held his legs in place so he couldn't kick Sasuke anymore. The blond scowled and squirmed, trying to break his grip but it was no use. He managed to wiggle his arms free and hit the only part of Sasuke he could reach: his back. But that didn't seem to do any good either. _'Jeez, what's he made out of, steel?'_ Naruto thought as his fists only encountered solid muscle.

Despite all his struggling and yelling Sasuke just stood there calmly and glanced down at Konohamaru. "Please excuse us," he said and then walked off with the blond flung over his shoulder.

"Konohamaru! Don't just sit there, DO SOMETHING!" Naruto shouted at the kid as Sasuke walked away.

Konohamaru helplessly shrugged. "Like what? He's three times bigger then me and is a Shinobi! I'm just a kid!"

"Then get one of the adults!" the blond shouted impatiently.

"We'll be done by the time you find someone, kid, so don't bother," Sasuke said, not turning around.

"Argh!" Naruto growled and resumed pounding helplessly at the man's broad back. "PUT ME DOWN!"

Konohamaru shrugged again at Naruto. "Maybe you should just talk to him, big brother."

"TRAITOR!" Naruto shouted as Sasuke continued to walk away. He continued to ignore the blond cursing him and the struggle he put up. Naruto finally gave up hitting the man's back. It was doing no good anyway. He glared down at the ground furiously as Sasuke carried him, though he couldn't help but flush slightly when looking down gave him a very good view of Sasuke's butt, which he couldn't help but notice was as nicely toned as the rest of him. He frowned when he realized where his thoughts were taking him and glared over his shoulder at the back of Sasuke's head. "Where are you taking me, anyway?"

"The stables. There's only one entrance there; you won't be able to get past me if you try to run."

"Bastard," he muttered in response and pouted the rest of the way. Just as he was getting used to the position, Sasuke dumped him onto a pile of hay. Naruto glared up at the man and tensed when Sasuke knelt in front of him. Looking around he saw that Sasuke was right, there was only one entrance into the small stable that they were in and the man was blocking his way so there was no way he could get past him. Naruto pouted and stubbornly crossed his arms. "Just because you've cornered me doesn't mean I'll talk to you!" To emphasize his point, he looked away from the man in front of him.

"Fine," Sasuke gritted out between his teeth. Naruto looked at him in surprise and felt a little bit nervous when he saw his face. _'He's really mad,'_ he thought. Sasuke started to talk before he could say anything.

"If you won't talk to me then just listen to what I have to say. I know you probably hate me right now and considering things I understand why, but in a few short weeks, whether we like it or not, we're getting married." He paused as Naruto flinched at that reminder and looked away.

"Yes, Naruto, I used the M word," he said sarcastically. He ignored the glare the blond gave him for that and continued. "We're getting married, Dobe, and there's nothing we can do about it so I suggest you start accepting it. While you start accepting it, consider this: while we're married we're going to be around each other quite a bit. They also expect you and I to produce a child." Naruto felt his cheeks burn at that and noticed that Sasuke looked a little embarrassed as well, though he continued to talk.

"I'm about as thrilled about this situation as you but it's the way things are. I know I hurt you when I disappeared like that and while I'm not sorry that I left, I am sorry I hurt you when I did."

Naruto couldn't help but stare after that. In all the years of their friendship he'd never heard Sasuke apologize. The man was too proud for that. _'He hasn't just grown in appearance'_ he realized. Sasuke sighed when he didn't say anything. "An apology is probably pointless but it's the best I can do; I can't change the past and I'm not asking you to forgive me right away. But I am asking you to at least give me a chance.

"I know you want to marry for love but I'm afraid that's not going to happen now. So could you at least settle for companionship? This whole thing might be a little more pleasant if you were at least civil to me."

Naruto just continued to sit there. He wasn't sure what to do; half of him wanted to throw his arms around Sasuke and bawl like a girl about how much he'd missed him, but the other half was still angry and hurt. Sasuke stood up after he didn't say anything. "I've said what I wanted. It's up to you how you want to handle this." Then he turned and walked out of the stables.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, staring after the direction Sasuke went, going over the words in his head. A sudden snort behind him made him jump and he turned to see a large black stallion, standing in a stall that was next to the pile of hay he sat on.

Naruto blinked as he recognized the horse and grinned. "Chidori!" He got up to go greet him.

Chidori had been Sasuke's first horse; a gift given to him when he was twelve years old by his parents. Back then, Naruto had been rather terrified of horses and avoided the stables at all costs. This caused problems with his best friend who adored his new horse and the fact that his parents had felt that he was responsible enough to have his own horse. As ridiculous as it was, Naruto had started to grow jealous of Sasuke's new horse because a majority of his free time was suddenly spent at the stables. Sasuke finally got fed up with him and decided that he was going to make Naruto get over his fear. The blond stroked Chidori's neck and smiled a little at the memory of that day…

_Wind Palace Stables, six years ago,_

_"Come on, Dobe." twelve year old Sasuke looked impatiently at the entrance to the stables where Naruto stood, refusing to budge._

_"No! I don't want to!" the blond said, eying the horses who had peeked over their stalls warily. He didn't care if he sounded whiny at this point; Sasuke was making him go near horses! Didn't his friend care about him at all?_

_Sasuke rolled his eyes and walked forward. "Look, there's nothing to be scared of, all right? They're just horses! If anything, they're probably more scared of YOU." _

_Naruto continued to look at the horses nervously and Sasuke sighed. "I promise they won't hurt you, Naruto. It's not like I'm asking you to ride them or anything, I'm just trying to get you to stop being scared of them. Why are you so afraid of them anyway?"_

_"Why aren't you! They're huge!" Naruto said, waving his arms to emphasize his point. _

_Sasuke snorted. "Everything's bigger then you, Dobe. Give me a better reason."_

_The blond stuck out his tongue at Sasuke's veiled insult at his height but then sighed. "All right, here's the reason: when I was little, before you came, I was hiding from Iruka-sensei so I ducked into the stables. But then I saw him coming towards here and so I ducked into one of the stalls."_

_Seeing where the story was going Sasuke shook his head. "Let me guess, there was a horse in the stall and you startled it, causing it to stomp its hoofs and you nearly got trampled."_

_"Um…yeah, basically," Naruto said sheepishly. "I was a kid, okay? It was SCARY."_

_"Well, you're not little anymore and I'm sure you know better now then to startle horses." Naruto nodded. "Good, then come on."_

_The boy still hesitated and Sasuke finally got impatient and grabbed his arm, dragging Naruto to his horse's stall. Chidori put his head over his stall and whinnied a greeting to his master. Naruto froze when the horse moved and looked at him. Sasuke rolled his eyes and placed a few sugar lumps in the blond's hand. Naruto looked down at them and looked at Sasuke. "What am I supposed to do with these?"_

_"Give them to Chidori," Sasuke said, nodding at his horse. "He's got a major sweet tooth. If you give him those, he'll adore you for life. See, you two already have something in common: the ability to be bribed with sweets."_

_"Ha, ha," Naruto said sarcastically, though he didn't deny it. He took a deep breath and hesitantly held out his hand. Seeing the sugar lumps, Chidori reached out with his nose and suddenly Naruto felt hands rest on his shoulders and he was firmly guided closer by Sasuke who now stood behind him. He glared over his shoulder at his friend and then jumped when he felt something tickle his hand and looked to see the horse eagerly lapping up the sugar lumps. _

_"See?" he heard Sasuke say into his left ear. "He's not so bad."_

_Naruto laughed a little when the horse nuzzled his palm, looking for more sugar lumps probably. "No, I guess not." He glanced down at the hands resting on his shoulders._ 'No, not bad at all'…

Naruto sighed and rested his head against Chidori's neck. "You know it's partly your fault I started to fall for Sasuke in the first place," he muttered to the horse. Chidori just turned his head to look at him.

_'Now what am I going to do?_' he thought.

AUTHOR NOTES: Yes, I know, Chidori is probably a bad name for horse. I have no idea what it translates into Japanese but I do know it's a technique that Sasuke uses which is kind of why it was chosen. But all the other horse names I kept coming up with sounded even worse so there you go. PLEASE REVIEW!


	7. Chapter 6

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

RATING: R/M to NC-17

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters/plotlines etc. I do however own this plot bunny and AU verse so I guess I can deal with that.

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaara, LeeSaku, KibaHina, ShinoIno, others to be mentioned most likely.

WARNINGS: There is MPreg mentioned in this, it's possible; but I won't be going into heavy detail for various reasons but mostly due to the way I have the story planned out. Just know that it is possible here and please no flames for it.

AUTHOR NOTES: Thank you all those who reviewed (especially the ones who gave the translation for Chidori and assured me that it has been known to be used as a name).

CHAPTER 6:

_Wind Palace Grounds: front entrance_

Sasuke stifled a yawn as he saddled up Chidori the next morning. He was the first to admit that he was hardly what you would call a morning person. While his training did help him somewhat he did tend to be more sluggish then usual in the first hour or so of the day. It had always been this way for him; he recalled Naruto joking that he acted like a anti-social gorilla in the mornings when they were younger. It had been something the blond used to love to tease him about.

Normally he wouldn't be up this early if he could help it, but if he and Kakashi wanted to get all of them to Konoha in the allotted time then they were going to need an early start. Getting through the mountain passes that surrounded Wind Palace would take at least a week and a half. More if they encountered harsh weather and other problems like bandits and the like. So getting up this early was necessary; that didn't stop him from detesting it though.

As he led Chidori to the front gates of Wind Palace grounds he saw that Kakashi had already arrived with his horse and was watching (though pretending not too) Iruka and Naruto as they talked with the King and the group of three children that he had seen Naruto talking too earlier at the engagement party. Two other horses were also saddled up for Naruto and Iruka to ride and an extra one was loaded with saddlebags and packages that contained Naruto and Iruka's belongings. Normally they wouldn't be taking so much luggage but neither men were expected to return to Wind so it was necessary.

"Ah, you're awake," Kakashi greeted him as he led Chidori next to Kakashi's horse. "I was about to go and get you."

Sasuke grunted a greeting and then went about checking his equipment to make sure he had everything. Feeling eyes looking at him, he turned to the group just in time to see Naruto duck his head. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, then shook his head and went back to his task.

"Did you say something to him?" Kakashi asked him, nodding at the blond. "He's been rather quiet ever since last night. It's eerie."

Sasuke blinked in surprise at that news. Not wanting to deal with a glowering Naruto he had decided to skip last night's dinner in favor of sword practice. After practice he had went into the kitchens to grab a bite to eat so he hadn't seen Naruto since the confrontation in the stables. "I might've said something, yes."

Kakashi looked at him expectantly and he sighed. "I just told him to stop acting childish about this. It would make things a lot easier for both of us if he just accepted this and acted civil."

"How'd he take that?" Kakashi asked curiously.

Sasuke shrugged. "I didn't stay long enough to find out."

His mentor shook his head. "Really, Sasuke, we're going to have to work on your communication skills; especially if you expect to woo him."

He glared at Kakashi. "I TOLD you. I'm not trying to court Naruto."

The man shrugged, not bothered at all by his glare though it had been known to make most grown men quake in their boots. "I don't know. You might want to consider it in this case. It could be helpful for you two."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You just want entertainment."

Though the mask was covering his mouth, he could tell Kakashi was smirking. "Well, it is going to be a long trip."

Sasuke snorted and turned away from his guardian_. 'Courting Naruto'_ he wondered as he checked over things. _'Where does Kakashi get his strange ideas?' _He glanced over at the blond in question and an image came to him of himself on one knee, holding out a bouquet of flowers and reciting poetry. He scoffed at the very idea; not only would he never be caught dead doing such a idiotic act, Naruto would probably look at him scornfully for even thinking he might appreciate it.

Though he didn't seem it, Naruto was very practical. He saw no use for frivolous things like a bouquet of flowers. The fiction books that he horded in his room were about as frivolous as it got for the blond. If he truly wanted to court him, he'd probably be better off shoving a pile of books at the blond and leaving him to enjoy his reading. He snorted again and muttered "Ridiculous."

Sasuke was brought out of his musing by a tug on his sleeve and glanced down to see the three children Naruto had been talking too earlier all looking up at him with glares and hands on their hips. Involuntarily reminded of Naruto, he asked warily, "Can I help you?"

"You're the guy that's marrying Naruto," the King's grandson said, making it sound more like a statement then a question.

Sasuke frowned and said slowly, "Yes…"

"Then you better take good care of him!" the boy said vehemently.

"Yeah! Naruto means a lot to us!" the girl next to him said.

"So if you're mean to him…" started the other boy.

"You'll have US to deal with," the King's grandson finished.

Sasuke couldn't help but wonder how they thought they could do anything to a Shinobi but decided it was better if he didn't ask. "Naruto is perfectly capable of taking care of himself," he said. Then he paused at the determined looks on their faces and sighed, muttering, "I'll do my best not to hurt him."

He breathed a sigh of relief as the three seemed to accept this answer and ran off; he really wasn't comfortable around children. Sasuke glared over at Kakashi who was snickering over by his horse. "What's so funny?" he demanded.

"Nothing," Kakashi said in between his snickers. "I just can't wait to tell everyone at the Academy about how the great Sasuke Uchiha got threatened by a group of children!" He started to laugh outright after that.

Sasuke scowled. "I'd hardly call that threatening."

Kakashi just shrugged and continued to snicker. Just as he was about to tell his mentor off a voice came from behind him. "Excuse me, Lord Uchiha, may I have a word?"

He looked behind him at the King, who had wandered away from the group and nodded. "Of course, Your Majesty," he said and with one final glare at Kakashi, he followed the old man.

Sasuke waited for the old man to speak; he couldn't figure out what the king could possibly want though. He already knew what was to be expected of him and Naruto; he was prepared to do his duty, though he didn't know about Naruto; so what could the man possibly want?

"I owe you an apology, Sasuke," the King said suddenly, dropping the formalities now that they were not in public.

"You do?" he asked in confusion. "For what?"

"This thing that we are asking you to do," the man said slowly. "It's unfair; to both you and Naruto."

"It's hardly your fault, Your Majesty," Sasuke said. "It's the way things turned out."

The King shook his head. "That doesn't make it right." He looked at the group in the distance and Sasuke followed his gaze. Naruto was now involved in what appeared to be some sort of group hug between the King's grandson and his two friends. "If I had my way, Naruto would be able to choose his own path, like he wants to now; but unfortunately, fate decided for him." He turned to look at Sasuke. "You know as I became King I never gave much thought to the Carrier Laws. To me, they sounded perfectly reasonable and logical, given the rarity of Carriers" Then he looked back at Naruto and sighed.

"Then Naruto was discovered. Do you know that he is the first Carrier we've had in Wind for almost ninety years?"

Sasuke nodded, though he could tell from the way the King didn't bother to look at him that it was a rhetorical question.

"More have been born in other countries over the years, but not from hear. Naruto is the first one I have encountered during my reign. After watching him grow up, do know what I think about those laws now?"

Sasuke looked at him questionably since it appeared that was what he was supposed to do.

"They're unfair," the King said with a shake of his head. His face became sad as he looked over at Naruto. "That boy has one of the brightest spirits I've ever met in my life. His determination is amazing sometimes. Can you imagine what he could've done with his life if he'd been allowed to choose his own path?"

"I can," Sasuke said softly. The King looked at him but his gaze was now on the blond. "He'd make an excellent Shinobi." Sasuke meant that too. All during his training he had felt like Naruto should have been there, training right by his side. The job would've been perfect the blond, who loved to help people; could inspire others to be better; and when he put his mind too it, could be rather clever and sneaky. He remembered how quickly the blond had caught on to the self-defense lessons that he'd been given when they were kids. If Naruto had been given any of the formal training Sasuke had been given, he had no doubt that the blond would be amazing.

But, as the King said; fate had chosen another path for the blond. The man was right: it WAS unfair.

"I have a bit of a confession to make," the King said, startling him out of his musing. "I did know that Fire would be sending you as their representative."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Oh?"

He nodded. "Yes. I just neglected to tell the council. I never would've agreed to them choosing Naruto to represent us if I hadn't known they would send you."

Sasuke looked at him confusion. "Why?"

The King smiled. "Despite what Naruto probably thinks, I do want him to be happy. I never saw him more happy then when you were here."

"So you think I can make him happy?" Sasuke said slowly. _'How does he figure that? Considering his behavior around me right now, I'd think the exact opposite'_ he thought.

"He's just angry and hurt right now," the King said, as if reading his thoughts. "Give him time; he'll come around. You just have to be patient with him."

_'Too bad patience was never one of my strong suits'_ Sasuke thought but didn't say out loud.

"You know I think he might be good for you as well," the King said and looked at him. "It wouldn't kill you to smile every now and then, you know." With that, he walked off. Sasuke shook his head but didn't comment; after all, he'd heard that statement enough times in his life, so why bother?

It was a little while later until they were all finally ready to leave. Sasuke, Kakashi, Iruka, and Naruto all stood before the King and his grandson who was trying to act like he wasn't sniffling. Naruto knelt in front of him and grinned. "You keep this place lively for me, okay Konohamaru? Wouldn't want it to get boring just because I'm not here," he said with a wink.

Konohamaru couldn't help but smile at that and then nodded. Naruto stood up and looked hesitantly at the King. "Uh…I guess I'll see you around, old man?"

The King smiled and held out his hand, "Take care, Naruto." The blond stared at the hand and then startled everyone, including the King, by hugging him instead. The old man smiled and returned the embrace, murmuring something to Naruto that Sasuke couldn't hear but whatever he said, the blond nodded at and then let go, turning towards the horses.

After Iruka, Kakashi, and Sasuke all said their good-byes the four of them mounted their horses, and after tying the fifth horse to Chidori, they were on their way. Just as they reached the main path leading to the capital of Wind, they heard explosions coming from the palace and turned to see what appeared to be fireworks and heard lots of shouts in the distance. As Naruto started to snicker Iruka turned to his student and frowned, "Naruto, what did you do?"

The blond grinned, "Just a little parting gift for the council. Don't want them to forget about me, do I?"

For the first time in long while, Sasuke suddenly felt the urge to laugh.

SasuNaru

They made good time on their first day of travel, Sasuke had to admit. Naruto had gotten much better at riding horses over the years it seemed so he was not longer having trouble controlling his horse or keeping up at a trot. By the first night they had gotten to the beginnings of the mountains which wasn't bad for one day and four people.

Since he had first watch, Sasuke was up later then everyone else and was tending to the fire when he heard movement and glanced up in time to see Naruto emerging from his tent.

"What are you doing up?" he asked the blond as he sat down next him.

Naruto shrugged and avoided his gaze. "I couldn't sleep; too many noises."

_'Oh right, he wouldn't be used to the noises that come from forests'_ he realized. "You'll get used to it." He glanced up to find Naruto frowning at him. "What?"

"I'm still mad at you, you know," he said suddenly.

Sasuke looked back down at the fire. "Yes, I know."

"But…what you said yesterday…it kind of makes sense," Naruto said slowly and reluctantly. Sasuke looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh?"

The blond shrugged and fidgeted. "Well, you're right, we ARE going to around each other…so it's kind of stupid to make things worse by being mad at you all the time, you know?"

"I suppose," Sasuke said slowly. He then smirked, "I guess you have grown up some after all."

Naruto glared at him. "What's THAT supposed to mean?"

Sasuke waved him off, "Never mind. Get some rest; you have last watch, remember?"

Naruto scowled at him but got up. He started to turn to his tent but then stopped. "Hey, Sasuke?"

He glanced at the blond and raised an eyebrow at the small smile that was suddenly on the blond's face. "Yes?"

"I'm glad you're back," the boy said quickly and then dove into his tent leaving a bewildered Sasuke behind, staring.

Then he smirked and murmured quietly, "Me too, Dobe."

AUTHOR NOTES: God, this part was hard to get out. Especially when it came to the good-byes because I was trying to keep everyone in character…I'm not entirely sure if I succeeded or not but I'm fairly happy with the result.

Sasuke WILL be starting to show more romantic interest; it's just going to take awhile…emotions really aren't his strong suit in case you haven't noticed. To those that are probably thinking that was a rather quick make-up...well..they never really MADE-UP, Naruto just said that he'll try and be civil. They still have a LOT of issues to work out, believe me. PLEASE REVIEW!

NOTES:

**Carrier Laws**: a set of laws that were made up when Carriers were first discovered in this world. They are generally all the same for every village, though some give more freedom to Carriers then others. Some of them are seen as quite unfair and are often argued against in the government but no move has really been made to change any of them due to the fact that there are so few Carriers anyway.


	8. Chapter 7

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. No money is being made off of this, please don't sue.

RATING: R/M, NC-17 in some parts

WARNINGS: will have mentions of MPreg, but will not be detailed. Please don't read or flame me if you don't like this.

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaara, LeeSaku, ShikaIno, KibaHina, and others mentioned.

AUTHOR NOTES: Look! I updated! For those who keep complaining about the length of the chapters, I'm sorry, but the length is what it is. I stop the chapters at a point that I feel is good, sometimes this makes them long, sometimes short. Really, it could be a lot worse; I'm averaging about seven pages per chapter so they could be a lot shorter. Also, I would like to once again point out that this is NOT a smut fic. Yes, there will be a lemon or two but it will take a while to come. If you want to read lemons, there are always PWPs. Thank you to all those who reviewed and thank you for your patience!

CHAPTER 7:

_Wind Country, Edge of Cradle Mountains,_

Naruto decided he was happy he'd been given the last watch the next morning. Having last watch meant that he was not only the first one up, but it meant that he got to see the sunrise. The sunrise was beautiful, in his opinion. _'Definitely one of the best I've seen'_ he thought in satisfaction, watching the sun wash out the night in a bright orange.

He impatiently waited for the others to get up that morning, busying himself with making breakfast. _'How can they sleep so late?'_ he thought, looking at the tents in confusion. _'There's so much to see!' _

Finally, about a half hour after the sun rose, Iruka groggily emerged from his tent. Familiar with his teachers' morning habits, Naruto didn't bother with pleasantries; he just set some food in front of Iruka. The man smiled sleepily at him and started to eat. Kakashi, groggily emerged from his tent a few minutes later, looking more and more like a scarecrow with his bed hair and happily accepted the food he was given.

As Kakashi took a few sips of his drink, he glanced at Naruto and asked, "Why don't you go and get Sasuke up?"

Naruto scowled at him. "Why me?"

"Because I've had to get him up for the past five years; I've grown rather tired of it," Kakashi answered.

The blond rolled his eyes, but go up and headed towards Sasuke's tent. "He's over eighteen years old," Naruto muttered. "You'd think he'd be able to get up on his own by now."

When he got to the tent, Naruto threw open the flap that served as a door and said loudly, "Come on, Uchiha! Up and at em!"

He started to go when he realized there was no response from the figure on the ground. Naruto sighed and went further into the tent and glared at the man. "Sasuke, get up you Bastard!"

Sasuke's only response was rolling over to face Naruto. The blond put his hands on his hips and scowled. "Ignoring me, are you? We'll see about that!" With that declaration he walked out of the tent and looked around the campsite, spying what he was looking for on the ground, he grabbed it and marched back in.

He smirked as he knelt down next to Sasuke, and took the feather that he had found and reached forward using the end of it to tickle Sasuke's nose. Naruto couldn't help the grin that formed on his face when Sasuke sneezed in sleep, then suddenly a hand clamped on his wrist and a kunai was pressed against his throat. His eyes widened when he saw red spinning wheels in Sasuke's eyes.

"Naruto?" Sasuke said in surprise, when he realized who he was holding. The blond breathed a sigh of relief when the kunai was lowered and he was let go. Sasuke's eyes, he noticed, had also returned to normal.

"What the hell were you doing?" Sasuke demanded. "You should not startle me like that!"

"What was I doing?" Naruto asked angrily. "What about you? All I was doing was waking you up, you ass! I didn't know I was going to get attacked for it! Next time, Kakashi gets to do it!" Before Sasuke could respond, he left.

The rest of the morning, he busied himself with chores. This wasn't hard to do since they had a campsite to take down. He pointedly ignored Sasuke when he emerged from his tent and did things such as taking down and packing up his tent; getting the packing horse ready with all of their belongings, and even offering to wash dishes and fill canteens by the river.

Then as they were getting ready to leave, he reached for his horse's bridle and found it being handed to him. "How's your wrist?" Sasuke asked, as he gave Naruto the bridle.

"Fine," Naruto answered shortly. Truthfully, there was a small bruise from the man's grip and he swore the skin still tingled, but he wasn't about to tell Sasuke about THAT. "You always wake up like that?"

"Only when I'm startled," Sasuke answered. Then he raised an eyebrow, "Usually Kakashi is the one that gets me up, and he knows to get out of the way. Why were you there?"

The blond shrugged. "He told me to get you up. Idiot should have warned me you'd go psycho on me."

"Sorry," Sasuke said softly, glancing away.

"It's all right," Naruto glanced at him. "What was with your eyes?"

"My eyes?"

"They were red," he said.

"Oh, that," Sasuke muttered. "It was nothing."

"They had spinning wheels in them!" Naruto persisted.

Sasuke sighed. "It was my Sharingan. It tends to activate automatically when I think I'm being attacked."

Naruto stared at him. "Sharingan? You never told me your family had that ability!"

Sasuke looked at him in slight surprise. "You know what Sharingan is?"

The blond nodded. "Sure. It's one of those special abilities that Shinobi use right? It's only passed down through blood though, you can't really learn it."

"Not many people know about that," Sasuke said slowly. "How do you?"

Naruto shrugged sheepishly. "I kind of read about it in the palace library; they have a few books on Shinobi and their techniques, you know."

Sasuke frowned and looked at him sternly. "Naruto, you haven't been trying out any Jutsus on your own have you? Those are dangerous to try out without supervision."

Luckily for Naruto, Kakashi chose that moment to call Sasuke over to help with something. The blond breathed a sigh of relief as the man left. He had never been very good at lying; especially when it was Sasuke he had to lie too.

SasuNaruSasuNaru

Over the next few days, the group of travelers settled into a routine. In the morning, they got up, had a breakfast that Naruto made, and then took down their camp with each person responsible for his own tent and belongings. Then over the next few hours they traveled on up the Cradle Mountains getting closer to the top. Around lunchtime they stopped and ate something, usually a rabbit or some other similar creature that Sasuke or Kakashi found and Iruka cooked. Then in the afternoon they traveled again, only stopping when it became dark and then they set up camp. The next day it began all over again.

Sasuke had to admit, he was fairly impressed with how Iruka and Naruto handled the traveling. For two people who weren't used to traveling they were doing rather well. Neither of them complained and both helped whenever possible. Occasionally Naruto did complain loudly about the lack of conversation from Kakashi and Sasuke and his luck about getting stuck with two of the most anti-social men around, but other then that he found ways to keep himself amused.

Unfortunately for Sasuke some of the ways Naruto kept himself amused included bugging him or "getting him to loosen up" as the blond put it. He was very thankful Iruka had come along and knew when to distract Naruto enough for Sasuke to keep his temper. If the teacher hadn't been there, he was fairly certain he would've clobbered Naruto by now, and knowing Naruto he would've clobbered Sasuke right back.

This was why he had gone on ahead of the group a little. Today, Naruto had decided to ask him a seemingly endless stream of questions. He didn't mind answering the first few, but after about the next twenty or so he was starting to lose his patience so he made the excuse that he was going to find a place to camp for the night and went on ahead before he threatened Naruto with a gag.

Now he was guiding Chidori through a path that had an opening of some sort. Figuring it was a clearing that would be a good place to camp for the night he headed towards it. Upon reaching the opening he stilled Chidori and stared at the view. As he had thought, it was a clearing, but it was a clearing that was almost at the top of the mountain range. In the distance he could see the rolling plains and lands that Wind country was famous for, and down below on the other side of the mountains was a small village. Roads going in every which direction led away from the village and he bet if they went and asked one of the villagers, they'd be told which one led to Wind Countries capital.

"Wow…" a voice came from behind him and he turned to see Naruto getting off his horse and gazing with wide eyes at the scenery around them.

"Ah, Sand Village," Kakashi said on arrival, looking down at the village below them.

"You've been there, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked him.

"Once or twice; perhaps we'll run into Gaara down there," he said, looking at Sasuke.

"I doubt it," Sasuke answered, ignoring Naruto's curious look. "He and Neji have been on missions' non-stop since he got out of the hospital. This will be a good place to stop for the night."

Kakashi nodded and they all went to set up camp.

SasuNaru

Later that night, Sasuke once again found himself listening to Naruto's babble. Kakashi and Iruka had gone to bed until their watch, so it was just him and the blond. He tuned out the babble until he was asked a question that startled him.

"Hey, who are Gaara and Neji?"

"What?" Sasuke looked at Naruto in surprise.

"Gaara and Neji; you and Kakashi mentioned them earlier, remember?"

"Oh, right," Sasuke said and then paused, trying to figure out how to explain who exactly they were. "Gaara and Neji are fellow Shinobi, we went through basic training together and have occasionally had missions together."

"Oh, so they're friends?" Naruto said in surprise.

"I wouldn't go that far," Sasuke said, thinking of all the times he'd wanted smack the two men and vice versa. "We're more like comrades who get on each other's nerves constantly."

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "You're comrades, but you're not friends? I thought that was the same thing?"

"Only you would think that, Dobe," Sasuke said.

"Well, do you hate them?"

"What?"

"Do you hate them?" Naruto repeated.

"No," Sasuke said slowly, wondering why he was asking this all of a sudden.

"Do you respect them?"

"Yes," Sasuke said slowly. It was hard not to respect Neji and Gaara, whatever personal issues the three had, he had to admit they were good fighters and hard-working.

"Then it sounds to me like you're friends," Naruto said with a grin. "You're comrades, you must talk occasionally in order to work together, you don't hate them, and you respect them. Plus you argue a lot! Sounds like friendship to me."

Sasuke stared at him and said, "Naruto…"

"Yes?"

"Go to bed."

The blond scowled at him. "Who died and made you my mother, Uchiha?" Then he yawned and Sasuke smirked at him.

Naruto sighed and muttered. "Fine; but I'm not going to bed just because you told me too!"

"Of course not," Sasuke said, still smirking as the blond got up and headed towards his tent. "Good night, Dobe."

Naruto turned and glared at him. "Good. Night," he gritted out and went into his tent.

Having Naruto glare at him like that really shouldn't have made him smile like he was doing now; but then, their relationship was never really normal to begin with.

AUTHOR NOTES: Finally! Now we're starting to get to the plot part. Other characters will be showing up soon, I promise. Maybe even in the next chapter….


	9. Chapter 8

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

RATING: R to NC-17

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaara, LeeSaku, ShikaIno, KibaHina, others mentioned.

WARNINGS: There is mention of Mpreg in this but it isn't really gone into. If you have a problem with it, please keep it to yourself, I DO NOT TOLERATE FLAMING. Sorry for the capitals but I've been getting flames/useless criticisms for some of my older fics that are already done an over with so I'm starting to get a little irritated.

AUTHOR NOTES: Sorry for the huge delay, finals came up so I was very busy. Hopefully that will be the only long delay. Thank you for all your reviews and your patience, being a fanfic reader I know how excruciating it can be when a story you like hasn't been updated for like months. The next update will be coming almost immediately after this if I have my say. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 8:

_Wind Country, Sand Village_

Sand Village was more like a medium sized town then an actual village. It wasn't as large as Konoha but had space to accommodate the many travelers that passed through on their way to the neighboring country of Fire or to see the King in the palace. Because of its location, tourism was its main economy so there were several inns and restaurants.

Once upon a time, the rolling plains that spanned the countryside had actually been dry and barren. The village had been named Sand because that was all that was there at the time. According to some legends, the founders of the town had found a way to irrigate the land, turning it into farmland and the rolling plains that the country was famous for; they just never got around to changing the name. Now the village was a major resource for crops and rice fields.

But Naruto was pretty sure that a majority of the town's residents didn't know or care about this. The only reason he knew about it was due to all the books on Wind Country history that were in the palace library. As he, Sasuke, Iruka, and Kakashi entered the village Naruto started recalling all the stories he read about the place and could hardly contain his excitement; he didn't know where to look first!

There were tall buildings painted in different colors; most a shade of brown or a warm sand color and with decorative paintings like flowers along its walls. Along the particular road they were traveling on, there were a few fruit stands and merchants selling things like jewelry and pottery to the large crowd of people wandering about.

The people were what fascinated Naruto the most. He'd never seen so many people in one place. _'They all look so different too!'_ he thought in wonder. There were teenagers hanging out at one stall, a few couples he saw holding hands, and even a family that seemed to have six kids. When he looked at one of the younger kids, the boy stuck out his tongue at Naruto and the blond grinned and made a face back at him causing the kid to laugh in delight.

"Naruto, pay attention to the road!" He jumped when Sasuke suddenly yanked him back and a man on a horse pulled cart pulled on the reins. The old man glared down at him.

"Watch where you're going, boy!"

Naruto smiled sheepishly at the old man. "Sorry, Sir."

The man just shook his head and muttered, "Young people." Then he moved on.

Sasuke sighed and let go of Naruto's arm. "I swear, Dobe, you need a watcher."

The blond glared at him. "I do not; and didn't I tell you to quit calling me that?"

Sasuke just snorted at him. Before Naruto could call him the few names that were coming to mind (none of which were flattering) Iruka and Kakashi caught up with them. "Naruto, are you alright?" Iruka asked.

Naruto crossed his arms and muttered. "I'm fine."

"Well, it's lucky Sasuke was there, isn't it? Otherwise, you would've been trampled," Kakashi said. Though the bottom half of his face was covered, Naruto could tell the man was smirking. He glared at him and the man wisely decided not to continue.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke and then reluctantly muttered. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Sasuke said stiffly.

After a pause, Iruka said, "Well, why don't we find a stable for the horses and a place to stay?"

"An excellent idea!" Kakashi said then looked at Naruto and Sasuke. _'Uh-oh, I'm not going to like this' _Naruto thought, noticing the glint in the man's eyes. "Why don't the two of you go look for a place to stay, while Iruka and I go find a stable for the horses?"

Iruka frowned slightly. "Kakashi-sensei, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I'm sure they can handle it," the man said, ignoring the glowering he was receiving from both Naruto and Sasuke. "Well, as long as they don't kill each other anyway."

"He's my fiancé," Sasuke muttered. "Like it or not, I'm duty-bound to protect him, so that means I can't kill him."

Naruto scowled at him. "Who says I need your protection, jerk?" A bit of him was a little startled though at hearing Sasuke refer to him as his fiancé. The man had never called him that until now. It felt kind of strange, it wasn't bad per say, just...strange.

"Well then, we'll leave you both to it. Meet back here when we're all done?" Kakashi looked at Sasuke, who nodded in agreement. "Alright then. Let's go, Iruka."

Iruka slowly followed him, but took the time to look back at Naruto with a pointed expression that clearly said _'behave'_.

Naruto sighed as the men left and he and Sasuke eyed each other warily. Then Sasuke sighed and said, "Come on." He then turned and headed towards a side street. Naruto glared at him.

"Who made you the boss?" he said with a frown. "What's the matter with the way we're headed?" He pointed down the busy street they were currently on.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Unlike you, I've actually been here before. This way leads to the market place near which are places that we can stay overnight.

"Oh," Naruto muttered and then slowly followed the other man. As they walked down the road, he glanced at Sasuke's back and sighed. _'This is going to be a long day.' _

SasuNaruSasuNaru

Sasuke walked out of the third inn he'd been in that day feeling a little frustrated._ 'Of all the times for a FESTIVAL to be going on!' _It wasn't just one of those small festivals either, oh no, it had to be the founders day festival, one of Sand Villages' most famous that always attracted hundreds of visitors. Thus, making it almost impossible to get a room at an inn. _'At this rate, we're going to have to sleep in the stables with the horses' _Sasuke thought ruefully. Oh well, it wasn't like he hadn't had worse accommodations before.

As he walked towards the spot he'd told Naruto to stay at he froze. The bench was there but Naruto wasn't. "Oh no," he muttered to himself, looking around hopefully for a mop of blond hair. '_At this rate, I WILL kill him'_ he thought furiously to himself. _'Wandering around a village he's never been too, what is that idiot thinking? Forget watcher, he needs a LEASH!'_

He started to wander down the street and looked for any sign of Naruto. _'He shouldn't be that hard to find_' he thought ruefully. '_If I don't see him first, I'll hear him soon enough.'_

Just as he thought, a few minutes later he heard a voice shout, "Watch where you're going punk!"

"I'm not a punk!" he heard Naruto's familiar angry voice shout back and quickly followed the sound of it before the blond caused a riot.

He found Naruto glaring at a man with his hands clenched into fists. The man he was glaring at was taller then him (of course) and wearing a Shinobi uniform with a tunic in a deep brown and an odd headdress; there were also unmistakable markings around his eyes and Sasuke blinked in recognition. "Kankuro?"

The two men stopped their glaring match and turned to look at him. Kankuro looked at him in surprise. "Uchiha?"

Naruto stared at him. "You know this creep?" He asked, pointing a finger at Kankuro who snorted at him.

"Hey, at least I'm not some puny kid."

"KID!" Naruto burst out angrily and if Sasuke cared, he would have been a little worried for Kankuro's life. The man might've been a Shinobi, but Naruto was brutal to anyone who had the stupidity to mistake his short stature and call him a kid.

Before he could interfere and prevent a murder a new voice stopped them all. "Kankuro? Where are you? You better not be causing trouble again! Oh! Sasuke!" They all turned to see a woman looking at them in surprise.

She was dressed in a Shinobi uniform as well but her tunic was a dark blue, her wild light blonde hair was pulled back into four pigtails. Sasuke nodded at her. "Temari."

"I'm not causing trouble, Sis. This brat ran into me and has yet to apologize," Kankuro said, glaring at Naruto.

"I am NOT a brat!" Naruot said angrily. Sasuke couldn't help but feel he didn't help his case by sticking out his tongue at Kankuro.

Kankuro snorted. "Yeah right." He glanced at Sasuke. "So does he belong with you or something? If so, may I recommend a muzzle and a leash?"

Naruto snarled, "That's it!" But before he could move to throw the punch he wanted, Sasuke was behind him and grabbed his arms. The blond yelped in surprise. "Hey!" Then he stared at the man._ 'Wasn't he over there a few minutes ago? How'd he get over here?'_

"Calm down, Naruto," Sasuke said. Then he looked at the two siblings who were staring curiously at the pair. "Yes, he's with me. Temari, Kankuro, meet Naruto Uzumaki. My...fiancé." It still felt strange to call him that.

The two Shinobi stared at him in shock and said in unison, "FIANCÉ?"

Naruto jerked out of Sasuke's grasp and shifted uncomfortably as the two stared at him. Then Kankuro shook his head. "Kid, never mind about the apology. I feel sorry for you for having to put up with Uchiha."

"Kankuro!" Temari hissed at her brother and looked at him in disapproval. Then she smiled at Sasuke. "Congratulations, Sasuke! That's wonderful!"

Sasuke decided not correct her and instead asked, "So what are you two doing in town? Mission?"

Temari shook her head. "Nah, it's been slow back at headquarters so we've been given time off. So we decided to come see the festival. We haven't been to it in ages."

Kankuro snorted and muttered. "More like you dragged me here to do some shopping."

Temari glared at her brother.

Naruto looked at the two of them curiously. "Festival? What festival?"

Temari smiled at him. "Sand has a huge festival this time every year to celebrate the founding of our town. It's quite famous."

"Wow.." Naruto looked at Sasuke hopefully. "Lets go! I've never been to a festival before!"

Kankuro stared at him. "You're kidding right? Whose never been to a festival before?" Temari smacked his shoulder. "OW!"

Sasuke sighed. He had nothing against festivals, they just weren't his thing. Besides they were still trying to find a place to stay. "We need lodging first."

"Don't be silly," Temari said. "You can both stay with us and I assume Kakashi-Sensei is with you as well?"

Sasuke nodded. "One other as well."

"The more the merrier," Temari said. "Our place is pretty empty since Gaara is almost never home anyway."

"He's not here?" Sasuke asked, not really surprised.

Kankuro rolled his eyes. "Nope. The minute we were all given time off, he and Neji went off somewhere before I could force them to keep me from getting stuck with Temari."

"Anyway," Temari said, glaring at her brother again. "We've got plenty of room, so how about it?"

Sasuke agreed and the group arranged to meet back at the main street while Sasuke and Naruto went to find Iruka and Kakashi. As the two walked down the street Naruto glanced at Sasuke and asked. "So, those two are Shinobi too?"

"Yes," Sasuke said, glancing around for Kakashi.

"So they know this Gaara and Neji guy too?"

"They're Gaara's half siblings."

"Oh," Naruto said and then quieted. Sasuke was thankful because if the man had continued he probably would have had to go into details about Gaara's family. He wasn't sure how Naruto would take the fact that there was not only another Carrier in Wind, but that the Carrier was a Shinobi as well.

AUTHOR NOTES: I know I said plot would creep up...but it's the NEXT chapter instead...I also know this is really short...sorry, it just had to end here. The next one is longer though and will be updated much faster.


	10. Chapter 9

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, just this AU idea/plot.

RATING: R to NC-17

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaara, LeeSaku, ShikaIno, KibaHina

AUTHORS NOTE: Sorry about the delay, between summer job and real life, I'm surprisingly busy this summer. Plus, I've been consumed with joy over the new Pirates of the Carribean movie coming out (CAN'T WAIT!), and I got a little carried away in my research of festivals for Japan...But I finally managed to get down and write this thing.

CHAPTER 9:

_Wind Country, Sand Village; Sabaku Residence,_

As Temari and Kankuro claimed, their place was indeed very large. The Sabaku residence was a large building with four interconnecting wings forming a square and surrounding a large courtyard-like yard that had a soothing fountain and walkways. Inside the house, Naruto found dozens of rooms, all for a distinct purpose. One was a large gathering room for parties, there were several guest bedrooms, along with a set of servants quarters, a kitchen connecting to a dining area, a parlor room, what appeared to be a weapons room of some sort along with a practice room. Then to his delight, he found the best room of all: a library.

"There you are," Temari said when she spotted him in the room. "Come on, it's time for lunch."

"Oh, okay," Naruto said reluctantly, looking back forlornly at all the wonderful books as he followed Temari outside of the room.

Temari noticed his look and grinned. "You know the books will still be there when we finish our food."

He smiled sheepishly. "I know. But what if I don't get time to read all the ones I want?" Which were a lot; he was a fast reader, but not that fast.

The girl shrugged. "Well, you can just take them with you."

Naruto looked at her hopefully, "Really? You don't mind? I don't know if I'd be able to get them back to you."

"Go for it," Temari said. "Kankuro and I hardly ever use that library, and Gaara's hardly ever here so I doubt he even remembers the library exists."

"Well then, why do you have it?" Naruto asked, curiously. "I mean some of the stuff in there is great!"

"It was our Fathers'," Temari said shortly. After hearing her tone, Naruto wisely decided not to pursue the issue, especially since he was getting free books.

When the two of them arrived at dinner Naruto was still grinning at the thought of new books. Sasuke eyed him suspiciously as he sat down. "What are you so happy about?"

"I'm getting new books," he answered cheerfully. Sasuke frowned. "You are? From where?"

"Our library," Temari answered him.

Iruka sighed and said, "You realize half your books will be gone?"

"Been meaning to get rid of those damn things anyway," Kankuro muttered. "Ow!" He glared at Temari who glared right back. Naruto watched the exchange curiously but his attention drifted when Temari said, "So, you guys are coming to the festival with us right?"

"Absolutely!" Naruto said, at the same time as Sasuke, who said, "I think we better not."

Naruto glared at Sasuke. "What do you mean we better not?"

Sasuke sighed. "We're going to have to get an early start tomorrow morning, so we better get to bed early."

Seeing Naruto open his mouth, Iruka quickly intervened, "I'm sure it won't hurt to get a late start one day. We're making pretty good time aren't we?"

"I suppose," Sasuke said reluctantly.

Naruto grinned. "So we're going then?"

Sasuke looked at him, then at Iruka, then at Kakashi who shrugged at him, and then back on Naruto who put on his best pleading face. "Fine," he muttered. Naruto grinned in triumph._ 'I'm going to an actual festival!'_

SasuNaruSasuNaru

A little later that day, Sasuke looked down at his yukata distastefully. _'I hate wearing this thing.' _The yukata had been a gift from Sakura and Ino on his last birthday and as much as he appreciated the girl's gesture, the midnight blue yukata made him feel silly. Almost as much as dressing up made him feel silly.

"Oh stop sulking, Sasuke," Kakashi said, as he joined him. "One would think we're forcing punishment on you."

Sasuke snorted. "Naruto will be around food that is full of sugar. I think being around him, once he consumes all that sugar, will be considered a punishment."

Kakashi chuckled. "Probably true. I'm sure Iruka will keep him out of your hair though."

"Hmm." Then he looked around. "Where is the Dobe, anyway? He's the one that was dying to go to this thing, wasn't he?"

"Relax, Uchiha; I'm here. Are you going to be this grouchy all night?"

Sasuke turned to glare at Naruto but ended up staring at him instead. Naruto had changed out of his regular clothes into a traditional summer yukata similar to the one he was wearing and had even taken the trouble of taming his hair (though a few strands were still rebeliously standing up). The yukata he had changed into was a blue green color that hugged his frame perfectly and made his blue eyes even more brilliant. He wasn't the most beautiful thing Sasuke had ever seen. During his travels he'd seen far more handsome (and less loud) men. But seeing Naruto not looking like his usual scruffy self and tugging at the neck of his yukata restlessly made something in him stir.

"What?" Naruto asked him, finally noticing his staring.

"Nothing," he said and pushed aside the strange feeling; he would analyze it later. "Lets get this over with."

SasuNaru

_'Festivals are too noisy'_ Sasuke firmly decided as he wandered through the crowds, keeping a close eye on Naruto. This one was especially bad since it was one of the biggest in Sand Village. The festival ran up and down all of Sand Village's main road. There were stalls lined up next to each other offering food, games in which you could win small (and in his opinion useless) trinkets, crafts that you could buy, and random entertainment such as fortune tellers.

Naruto was excitedly moving around from stall to stall. Kakashi had wandered off somewhere (dragging a reluctant-looking Iruka with him), Kankuro had parked himself near the food and said he'd meet up with them later, so it was him and Temari keeping an eye on Naruto which was no easy feat. The blond would one minute be oohing over a craftsman's work and then the next minute, challenging a kid to a game at one of the booths. He usually won the games but ended up giving the kid the prize anyway after he saw how sad they were that they lost. Finally, to Sasuke's relief, he found a storyteller telling local legends and myths to a crowd and so sat down and listened with rapt attention.

Temari and Sasuke stood in companionable silence listening to the woman tell the legend of the Sun and the Moon. "Certainly has a lot of energy, doesn't he?" Temari said after awhile, nodding at Naruto.

Sasuke snorted. "Should of seen him when he was a kid."

She raised an eyebrow. "You've known him long?"

"We grew up together," he said shortly.

"Ah." Then she looked at Naruto again and in a quiet voice asked, "He's like Gaara, isn't he?"

Sasuke glanced at her. "Yes. Except he didn't get to choose his fate."

Temari's eyes hardened. "Gaara didn't exactly choose to be a ninja, Father chose it for him. Along with everything else."

"Hmm." Sasuke nodded but didn't say anything; Temari and Kankuro had about as much issues with their dead father as he had with Itachi. Out of habit, he started surveying the crowd around them and then spotted someone that made his blood run cold. "What the hell is he doing here?" he whispered furiously. Temari looked at him and then looked around. "Who?"

"Excuse me," he said to Temari. "I'll be right back. Keep an eye on Naruto for me."

Not taking his eyes off the man he spotted, Sasuke weaved through the crowd of people until he was directly behind him. But before he could reach for the kunai he had put up his sleeves the man said, "Hello, Sasuke."

He stiffened and glared at the back of the man's head. "What the hell are you doing here, Kisame?"

"Is that any way to treat an old friend?"

Sasuke scowled. "Shut up! We're hardly friends. Now what are you doing here?"

"Enjoying a story, like everyone else."

Sasuke snorted. "Bullshit."

"Tsk. You shouldn't use such language in front of children."

Growing tired of the banter, Sasuke pressed his kunai against the man's back. "Either tell me what you're doing here, or get out of this village."

"You're going to start a fight in the middle of this crowd? Not very Shinobi-like of you, I must say."

"You're one to talk," Sasuke said.

"I would advise against starting something, Sasuke. After all, you wouldn't want your lovely fiancé to get hurt, would you?"

Sasuke froze and looked over at Naruto; he then glared at the back of Kisame's head. "If you go near Naruto, I'll kill you," he hissed.

Kisame let out a chuckle. "Not with those pesky emotions of yours getting in the way you won't. Itachi sends his regards. I suspect we'll be seeing each other again very soon." With that he disappeared. Sasuke stood there for a few moments, processing what he'd just heard and then headed towards Naruto and grabbed his arm.

"Come on, Dobe. We're leaving," he said shortly. Naruto blinked up at him in confusion. Temari walked over to them and looked at Sasuke, "What's wrong?"

"We have to go," Sasuke said. "Where did Kakashi say to meet him?"

"Wait, why do we have to leave?" Naruto asked in confusion. "The story's not over yet!"

"Sasuke, what happened?" Temari asked firmly.

He looked at her. "Kisame was here." Temari's eyes widened in understanding.

Naruto looked between the two and asked in frustration, "Who's Kisame?"

"I'll get Naruto home. You go find Kakashi and Iruka," Temari said, Sasuke nodded gratefully. Naruto glared at the two of them and then yanked his arm from Sasuke's grasp.

"Excuse me! Who is Kisame?" he demanded. "Why do I have to be walked home like some kid? I can take care of myself, you know!"

"It doesn't matter who Kisame is," Sasuke said, sending a warning look to Temari. "It isn't safe for you to be alone right now."

"Says who?" Naruto demanded. "You?"

Getting irritated, he snapped. "Yes, as a matter of fact." As soon as he said it, he realized he probably should have worded it differently, or not said anything at all. Naruto glared at him in a way that he'd never seen the man glare at anyone.

"Let's get something strait, Uchiha," Naruto said coldly. "Just because we're engaged does not mean you are the boss of me; got it?"

Sasuke sighed in exasperation. "Naruto, there are things going on that you don't understand. For once, would you just listen to me?"

Naruto crossed his arms. "Make me understand it and maybe I will."

"There isn't time for that!" He snapped. "Go with Temari and I promise I'll explain it to you later."

The blond snorted. "No offense Sasuke, but you have a lousy track record when it comes to keeping your promises."

Sasuke glared at him, ignoring the sting of hurt he felt. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Naruto glared back at him. "Figure it out."

Temari, who had up until that point been looking back and forth between the two of them, finally interrupted. "Enough you two! This isn't the time to argue! Sasuke, go find Kakashi. Naruto, come on, we've seen pretty much all of the festival anyway."

With one last glare at Sasuke, Naruto slowly followed Temari back to the house.

SasuNaru

Later that night, Kakashi and Sasuke were still discussing the incident in the parlor. Kakashi sat on an armchair with his fingers under his chin and looking at nothing in particular while Sasuke paced restlessly.

"I still don't understand what he was hoping to accomplish," Kakashi muttered. "Other then annoy you to death. I mean, he didn't go after anyone. None of the other Akatsuki showed up so they weren't going to attack the festival. What was the point?"

"Itachi is trying to get to me," Sasuke said, finally stopping his pacing. "He does this every single time. It's like a big game for him."

"It works too," Kakashi muttered. Sasuke glared at him, but reluctantly nodded. "So what do you think he could be planning now?"

"I'm not sure," Sasuke grudgingly admitted. "But I think he might be after Naruto. Kisame was awfully interested in him earlier. I think the reason he was there in the first place was to watch him."

Kakashi frowned. "What could he possibly want with Naruto?"

"I don't know," Sasuke said. Then he looked at Kakashi who couldn't help but draw back at the hardness in his eyes. "But he won't get him. Not if I have anything to say about it."

TO BE CONTINUED...

AUTHOR NOTES: WHEW! That took longer then I thought it would to write. But I finally managed to get the plot started and in a way that didn't suck! PLEASE REVIEW!


	11. Chapter 10

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

RATING: R to NC-17

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I just own this little plot on which I am making no money off of (no matter how much I wish otherwise).

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaara, LeeSaku, KibaHina, ShikaIno, and others mentioned.

AUTHOR NOTES: I meant to have this out much sooner, really I did. But there was a power outage in my area that delayed stuff. Stupid mother nature. Anyway, thank you all who reviewed. To those who were upset about Sasuke not automatically thinking Naruto was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, please remember: this is SASUKE who is talking. He's not the type to think things like that. But he has admitted Naruto is attractive, so there's hope! I didn't want the romance to turn into one giant cliche so I'm trying to keep the boys in character (well, in character in this AU verse anyway) which sadly means the kissing is going to take awhile along with the sex.

CHAPTER 10:

_Wind Country, Sand Village; Sabaku Residence_,

Later that night, Naruto lay down in his bed glaring at the ceiling. Iruka had been in the room earlier, having heard about what happened, and tried to get him to come down to dinner. He had stubbornly refused and was now regretting it as his stomach was now growling loudly. _'Stupid Sasuke'_ he thought, even though he realized it was hardly Sasuke's fault that he didn't eat dinner; he just hadn't felt like seeing the man then.

A part of him realized he was being childish about this, but a larger part of him wanted to stay angry at Sasuke even though, technically, the man hadn't done anything except try to get him safely away from whoever this Kisame guy was. _'That's what I'm really angry about' _he realized. It was the fact that Sasuke didn't TELL him what was going on. Not freely anyway. Sure, he had promised to tell Naruto who Kisame was later, but he wasn't holding his breath about that actually happening. Sasuke could be very tight-lipped when he wanted to be. He hated being in the dark about stuff; especially stuff that concerned him, and judging from Sasuke's behavior it did concern him.

He sighed and rolled over. That was another thing that was starting to annoy him. Sasuke still tended to treat him like a little kid. He had always been rather overprotective of him when they were kids and that was fine. In fact, a part of him had found it cute, and it had certainly had a part in him falling in love with Sasuke in the first place. But now...he was getting tired of being treated like he was five. Every where he turned the man was hovering in the background as though waiting for him to make a mistake. It not only annoyed him, but made him nervous too. He really had no clue how to act around this new Sasuke to begin with, having the man constantly keep an eye on him unnerved him and as a result he became irritatable or started to babble.

Clearly it was time to talk to Sasuke. _'I just wish knew how to start a conversation with him' _he thought glumly.

When they were younger, Naruto had no problem talking to Sasuke. Sure, he had heard about the Uchiha clan and was perfectly aware of how important that made Sasuke, but he had never been one to care about stuff like titles and had been much more interested in making a friend to play pranks with. Sure Sasuke had been a bit moody as a kid and heaven knew he had a temper but after awhile Naruto had learned how to work around those qualities and had prided himself on being the only one who could get Sasuke to smile outright when he was in a mood.

But this older Sasuke was different and much harder to understand. He was unnerving for one thing. With his dark uniform and the intimidating way he carried himself, this Sasuke just seemed...dangerous; the fact that Naruto could see him carrying hidden weapons every where they went did not really help matters. Plus, he had yet to see the man smile. Smirk, sure lots of times, but never smile and certainly never laugh. Unless you happened to count an amused grunt as a laugh which Naruto didn't. To Naruto it seemed as if Sasuke didn't even know HOW to enjoy himself anymore or simply relax and enjoy life; the thought saddened him.

But sometimes he caught glimpses of the old Sasuke that gave him a little hope. He saw them in the way Sasuke would roll his eyes at Kakashi's shameless flirting with Iruka. He saw it in how Sasuke was still looking out for him (no matter how annoying it got). Then there was the way he could still drive Naruto crazy one minute and then do something like let him go to his first festival that would make Naruto forgive him.

_'Confusing jerk'_ he thought while bunching up his pillow. Finally he got up and headed towards the kitchen. _'Laying in bed, stewing isn't getting me anywhere. At least if I stew in the kitchen I can get something to eat.'_

_SasuNaruSasuNaru_

_Wind Country, Wind Palace, five years ago,_

_Sasuke saddled up Chidori and felt the usual apprehension that he always did when leaving on the annual trip to see his family. It wasn't that he didn't love his family, he did. It was just that sometimes he preferred life here in WInd Palace. Here, he wasn't Sasuke Uchiha of the Uchiha Clan and little brother of famed Shinobi Itachi Uchiha. Here, he was just simply Sasuke, revered student of Kakashi Hatake and best friend of Naruto Uzumaki. These titles held a lot less weight then the others and were far more enjoyable._

_He sighed and then turned to Naruto, who was sulking behind him. "Naruto, you knew I was leaving."_

_The blond just pouted more, making him look more like he was five instead of thirteen. "I know, but it still STINKS!" he whined. "It's going to be totally boring without you around."_

_Sasuke snorted. "I'm sure you'll find a way to fix that. If not, Iruka-Sensei will find something for you to do."_

_Naruto glared at him. "Don't give him any ideas!"_

_He shrugged innocently and continued packing his saddlebag. Naruto sighed and said glumly, "So how long are you going to be gone this time?"_

_Sasuke grimaced. "Not counting the travel time, a month. My parents want to 'properly present me to society' now that I'm thirteen."_

_Naruto snickered. "You're kidding me, right? Man, society is going to get a shock."_

_He glared at the blond. "Shut up. Like you're any better at social engagements."_

_Naruto put his hands behind him and fluttered his eyelashes playfully. "What are you talking about? I'm the most charming person around! The girls love me!"_

_"More like pity you," Sasuke muttered. "Besides, you've only been around adult women and they don't count."_

_Naruto stuck out his tongue and then yelped in surprise when Kakashi came up behind him, seemingly out of no where. "Are you two bickering again? Really, at this rate you'll start to sound like an old married couple."_

_Naruto blushed at that for a reason Sasuke couldn't fathom (he was more then used to Kakashi's weird comments by now) and then glared at the man. "Shut up!"_

_Kakashi shrugged like he usually did in response to Naruto's outbursts and then looked at Sasuke. "Ready to go?" Sasuke nodded and started to lead Chidori to the palace gates. Kakashi headed towards his horse and Naruto followed him, oddly silent for once. He wasn't counting on the silence lasting long. As usual, he was right; as he was putting his foot into the stirrup and about to mount Naruto said his name almost hesitantly. He glanced back and raised an eyebrow at the blush on Naruto's face. The blond had been going red for no reason a lot lately, he was starting to wonder if maybe Naruto was getting sick._

_"Hurry back, okay?" Naruto asked slowly. "There's something important I have to tell you."_

_Sasuke turned and looked at him closely. "Why don't you just tell me now?"_

_Naruto looked at the ground and muttered. "Not enough guts right now."_

_"What?" Sasuke looked at him in confusion and a little worry. _'Since when is Naruto afraid to tell me anything?'

_"So I'll tell you when you get back!" Naruto said, brightening up suddenly. "I promise I'll have enough guts to tell you, if you promise you'll be back as fast as you can! Deal?" He held out his pinky finger and Sasuke couldn't help but smile slightly at the familiar gesture. He then held out his hand and hooked thier fingers together._

_"All right. I promise." Naruto beamed at him and for a moment Sasuke felt tempted to say to hell with his parents and just stay but his sense of duty didn't let him._

_"Sasuke." He turned to look at Kakashi who was mounted on his horse and nodding towards the gate. Sasuke sighed and climbed on top of Chidori. He glanced down at Naruto who was now looking a little glum. _

_"Bye," the blond said softly._

_"I'll see you soon, Naruto," he said. Naruto smiled a little at that and nodded. He then turned and headed out the gates._

_That was the last time he saw Naruto until five years later..._

Sasuke then stirred for the first time in an hour. Meditation had always had a way of making him remember things like that. He sighed and then stretched his limbs. He had started to meditate in the hopes to quiet his mind, which it normally did. Practicing sword techniques hadn't helped, nor had going through chi exercises, or katas. So he had tried meditation in the hopes of keeping his mind from returning to the memories of finding his family slaughtered and the frustrating fact that he still had yet to bring his brother to justice. This often happened when Itachi showed up: memories would resurface, doubts would grow, and just when he thought he finally had enough strength to avenge his clan Itachi always managed to throw another loop into the mix. This time however, his brother was going too far. '_How DARE he bring Naruto into this!_' he thought furiously for the umpteenth time that night and clenched the fists that were resting on his knees.

But it was however just like Itachi. The man knew that he had cared for Naruto greatly when they were younger and he admitted that he still did, despite the fact that the older Naruto was frustrating as hell. Despite five years apart, Naruto still managed to get to him in ways others didn't. His temper, which he thought he had learned to control over the years, seemed to double where the blond was concerned. He still felt a surge of protectiveness around Naruto that had always been there, but this felt...different somehow in a way he couldn't pinpoint and wasn't sure he liked. Even more telling, was the fact that with Naruto around he felt...more human.

Sasuke frowned but conceded that it was true. Naruto made him FEEL things again. Kakashi and several other Shinobi had often commented that as he got older and more intense about his training, he was starting to turn cold. They had meant well but Sasuke didn't see why this was a problem. Shinobi were warriors, they weren't supposed to be emotional all the time because it interfered with their missions. So he wasn't sociable; who cared as long as he got the job done and avenged his clan? This was his reasoning anyway. But Naruto just brought out things in him. True it was mostly anger, frustration, exasperation, and a lot of confusion but along with that came a odd feeling of peace. Plus, on more then one occasion the blond had almost made him smile; something that he knew he did rarely.

"What are you doing to me, Naruto?" he wondered out loud. Of course, he received no answer. Finally giving up he headed towards his room.

_SasuNaruSasuNaru_

As Naruto headed out of the kitchen, now happily full, he unepectantly collided with a large wall. At least that was what it felt like to him when he ran into Sasuke. He glared up at the man. "Watch where you're going!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You ran into me, Dobe."

"Whatever," Naruto said, crossing his arms; then he frowned. "Didn't I tell you to stop calling me that?"

Sasuke sighed and brought his hand to massage his temple. "How long are you going to insist on acting like this?"

"Like what?"

Sasuke glared. "Like a child who hasn't gotten his way."

Naruto resisted the urge to stick out his tongue at the man. "I don't know. Maybe when you stop treating me like I'm five and tell me what the hell is going on."

"There isn't anything going on."

Naruto snorted. "Yeah right. That's why you freaked out when this Kisame guy showed up."

"I did not freak out."

"Oh you did so."

"I did not."

"Did so."

"I did...," Sasuke paused and then glared down at the blond, who was starting to smirk at him. "Maybe if you didn't draw people into did not, did so arguments, I wouldn't treat you like you were five."

Naruto just shrugged innocently. "So, who's Kisame? Or do I have to guess? I warn you: I'll keep guessing until I getting right; and we both know what a big imagination I have, so who knows how long it will take before I get it right. Right now, I'm going with a guy who you really don't like."

Sasuke sighed. "Kisame works for my brother."

Naruto stared at him with wide eyes. "Oh. No wonder you don't like him," he said in a soft voice. Then he frowned, "But what was he doing at a festival?"

He looked at Naruto. "He was watching you. That means my brother is watching us and he knows about the alliance and our betrothal."

The blond frowned. "I'm guessing that's a bad thing?"

"Knowing Itachi, most likely." He noticed Naruto shiver a little. "Don't worry. Whatever he has planned, I'll figure it out. I usually do. In the meantime, just be extra careful and stay close to me or Kakashi, alright?"

Naruto frowned. "I can take care of myself."

"Not against my brother," Sasuke said shortly. Then he asked in an almost pleading voice, "Just promise me, alright?"

Staring at him in surprise, Naruto slowly nodded.

"Good," he said in releif. Then as if he was aware that Naruto was still there he coughed. "You better get to bed, we have an early start tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night," Naruto answered softly, watching Sasuke head towards his room. He then headed back into the kitchen; all of a sudden he was hungry again. Besides, tea always helped sooth him when he felt confused about things.

TO BE CONTINUED...

END NOTES: Please review!


	12. Chapter 11

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I just own this one AU plot so please, no stealing.

PAIRINGS: SasuNaruSasu, KakaIru, NejiGaara, LeeSaku, ShikaIno, KibaHina, and others mentioned.

AUTHOR NOTE: I'm sorry for the huge delay. I have no excuse accept for the fact that real life got in the way including: starting my LAST YEAR OF COLLEGE (can you tell I'm happy about this), getting sick, and several other things. Hopefully I will get back to the every other week update schedule that I had going for awhile.

CHAPTER 11:

_Subaku Residence, Sand Village,_

The next morning the villagers of Sand couldn't help but be surprised when they saw a small group in front of the large Subaku residence. It was well known among them that the family was rarely present and that the younger children were actual Shinobi. So it was no wonder that they stared at the odd group. They recognized Temari and Kankuro of course, but the other four were strangers. Two of them were dressed like Shinobi while the other two wore regular clothing. The blond boy drew the most attention, and not just because of his loud orange tunic either. He was cursing and trying to load a rather large pile of books onto a pack horse who did not look very happy about the already large load he had on.

Kankuro noticed the glances they were receiving from the villagers and glared at them. "What are you looking at?" They quickly hurried away, though not without some of the old women giving him scandalized looks.

Sasuke shook his head at Naruto. "I think you should leave some of the books, Dobe. We can't afford to take all of these."

Naruto pouted. "But how am I going to read the others?"

Sasuke shrugged.

Temari smiled at the blond. "Tell you what; next time we're in Konoha, I'll bring the rest of them with me so you can read them."

Naruto turned to her with wide eyes. "You'd do that?"

Temari nodded. "Of course! What are friends for?"

Naruto started at that; other then Sasuke, he hadn't really had any friends his own age before. He then grinned, "Okay! That would be great!"

Once the book situation had been straightened out, getting ready to leave went a lot faster, much to Sasuke's relief. Finally they were on their way a few minutes later with Naruto waving back at Temari and Kankuro as the group left. Temari waved back and when the group was out of sight Kankuro shook his head. "Man, Uchiha sure has his hands full with that kid."

Temari smiled. "Yes, he certainly does. I think Naruto will be good for him though. Sasuke is already a little different now."

Kankuro blinked. "Huh? I didn't notice any difference."

The girl rolled her eyes but refrained from commenting. _'But Sasuke IS different already_' she thought, as she remembered the soft look Sasuke had on his face whenever he looked at the blond. It had been a look she'd never seen on his face in the four years she'd known him. She knew many girls in Konoha who would've loved to have the Uchiha look at them like that. She smiled to herself, '_looks like I can write to Sakura and Ino and tell them that they don't have to worry about him anymore._' Sasuke's self-proclaimed protectors would be thrilled at this development.

_SasuNaruSasuNaru_

About two weeks later Naruto wandered towards the nearby creek he had seen earlier. The group had settled down for the night and with a good night's sleep under his belt he was now eager to get some time to be alone. Sasuke had been keeping a sharp eye on him ever since they had left Sand. The man's paranoia seemed to have doubled since the incident at the festival and it was starting to drive Naruto crazy.

For the past few days Sasuke refused to let him wander off by himself, insisting on accompanying him for even the most mundane tasks such as wood gathering or hunting. There had even been an embarrassing moment when the man had tried to accompany him when he went to bathe in the long Horei River, which they had been following in order to get to Wind's capital city, Kaze which it flew right into. Naruto still blushed when he remembered Sasuke's back turned while he bathed behind him in the water.

'_He, of course, acted like it was no big deal'_ Naruto thought in slight irritation as he walked. _'The way he acts, you wouldn't know we're getting married!' _He didn't understand how Sasuke could act so nonchalantly about it; the fact that he would be MARRIED to SASUKE was always in the back of his mind, no matter how much he tried to ignore the issue. The closer they got to Konoha, the more he started to wonder just what was going to happen.

Where would they live for instance? He had no clue how Shinobi lived, despite all the books he'd read on them in the palace library. The books he'd found only focused on their techniques and ranks and whatnot. There was never any mention of how they lived when they weren't on missions, although, Naruto had to assume that they lived in Konoha and made up a majority of the city's population.

Then of course, he wondered how he and Sasuke were expected to behave around each other. Somehow he imagined the way they acted now would probably change once they exchanged their vows. After all, the two of them were expected to make an heir; it was the only reason he was even here, much as that knowledge hurt. Naruto had seen married couples before, but when he tried to picture the two of them acting like the affectionate couples he'd seen, it was difficult to picture. Especially considering Sasuke didn't seem to like being touched and didn't offer to touch anyone in return. Naruto sighed to himself and shook his head _'How the hell does he expect the two of us to have a baby? That involves touching!'_

He probably could just ask Sasuke but he was reluctant too. Currently, the Shinobi seemed constantly preoccupied and when he wasn't making sure Naruto was well within his sight, he was frowning off into the distance or seemed to be lost in thought. He also seemed to be a lot grumpier then before. So Naruto tried to keep his distance, which was hard when the man was keeping him under lock and key, which was in turn making him annoyed because he hated being treated like he was some sort of girl. Unfortunately people had the bad tendency to do that because he was a carrier and because of his looks. Previous suitors had quickly found out though that he was most definitely NOT a girl. If this business with Sasuke kept up he was going to have to remind the man that he wasn't as well even if Iruka-Sensei frowned at him in disapproval.

This trip to the river on his own was a small start of showing Sasuke he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. It was early morning and even though Iruka-Sensei had tried to talk him out of it (it had been his turn for morning watch that day) he decided to go and get cleaned up. '_On my own too'_ he thought in satisfaction. Sure, it probably wasn't going to impress the man very much, but if he had to show his independence to Sasuke in small steps for now then he was going to do it.

"Take that, Uchiha!" he said out loud, as he strode purposefully towards the river's edge.

_SasuNaru_

Sasuke woke up when he sneezed and frowned to himself. After groggily putting on his tunic he went outside and grunted when Iruka handed him some tea. It wasn't until a half hour later that he realized what was wrong: it was too quiet. He frowned at Iruka, "Is Naruto still asleep?" Considering the blond seemed to like waking up with the sun, he doubted it.

Iruka hesitated and then reluctantly shook his head.

He sighed and set down his empty cup. "Where is he?"

"Down by the river."

Sasuke got up and grabbed his sword, "I'll be right back."

As he headed towards the river Sasuke inwardly cursed Naruto. '_Doesn't he understand that he's in danger right now!_' he thought in exasperation. Alright, so Itachi hadn't tried anything yet, but that didn't mean he wouldn't, they still had about a day of travel until they got to Kaze and until then they all had to be on their guard. But Naruto didn't seem to understand this. In fact, he seemed to be irritated whenever Sasuke reminded him that he wasn't to go off on his own. Though perhaps making sure someone went with him while he cleaned up was going a bit far, but he wouldn't put anything past his brother so he wasn't taking any chances right now. Even if it had slightly embarrassed him to do it; he just hid it well.

'_I'm going to have to have a talk with him_' he thought in annoyance. He then arrived at the edge of the river and glanced around for Naruto. He finally spotted a head of blond hair a little ways down and was about to call out when Naruto surfaced and he froze. The part of the river Naruto had found was rather shallow so it was low enough to stand in like the blond was currently doing. The water still covered the lower part of his body but Sasuke could still see the upper part of him and he couldn't help but stare.

It wasn't as if he hadn't seen another male body before. He was eighteen for crying out loud, and was far from a virgin, he had also been well aware of his preferences by the time he was fourteen. _'So why am I staring at him like this?' _he wondered to himself as his eyes almost involuntarily roamed up and down Naruto's torso and settled on the spiral mark that ran across his abdominal muscles; further evidence of his Carrier status.

Then he felt the crazy urge to get into the water with the blond and see if that skin was as soft as it looked. Sasuke shook his head, _'what's the matter with me!_' He was eyeing Naruto of all people! Unfortunately for him, Naruto chose that moment to look up and finally notice him standing there. The two of them stared at each other and Sasuke couldn't help but feel amused when he noticed that Naruto's blush went down all the way to his shoulders. After a few seconds Naruto ducked back into the water and glared at him. "PERVERT!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and ignored the slight pang of loss he felt when Naruto's body was once again covered in water. "I think you're mistaking me for Kakashi."

Naruto scowled. "Hey, I don't know what else he's been teaching you these past five years!"

"You don't want to know. Why did you come here on your own?"

The blond blinked at the sudden change in subject and glared at him. "I can bathe on my own!"

Sasuke shook his head. "Whatever, let's just get back to the others." Naruto looked at him pointedly. "What?"

He scowled. "TURN AROUND!"

Barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Sasuke obediently turned around and heard Naruto get out of the water. "As I recall, you weren't this much of a prude when we were kids."

"Huh?" he heard Naruto ask behind him.

"Well wasn't it you who talked me into skinny dipping in the pool when we were little?"

"That was different!" He could just picture the blond's blush.

"How?"

"We were eight for starters! Plus, I had a lot of sugar that day! It was my birthday, after all."

"Yes, I remember." Even now he still marveled at how an eight year old Naruto could consume so much junk food and yet still be skinny. That aspect still hadn't changed judging from what he'd seen Naruto eat at the festival.

"Okay, you can turn around now." He turned to see Naruto using a cloth to dry out his hair.

"Well, let's go," he said shortly.

As the two started to head towards the camp, he saw Naruto frown at him several times before looking away when he turned his head. "What is it?"

"I'm not a girl, you know!" Naruto blurted out.

Sasuke stopped and stared at him. Of all the things for Naruto to say, that had been the last thing he'd been expecting. "I know you're not." If Naruto had been a girl, he probably wouldn't have had the urges he'd had earlier.

Naruto crossed his arms. "Are you sure? Because a lot of the other suitors I've had have made the same mistake."

For some reason, being grouped into the same area as Naruto's suitors irked him, especially as he remembered the disdainful way Naruto had spoken of them before. "I know you a little better then they did, Naruto."

The blond shrugged, "You've also been gone for the past five years."

Sasuke frowned and felt his irritation grow. "Yes, I know I was. You do not need to point it out every time I try to talk to you."

Naruto glared. "Well, its true, isn't it?"

Sasuke sighed in frustration. "Yes."

"So you don't really know me as well as you did, do you?" Naruto continued on as if he hadn't spoken.

Sasuke was about to speak when a dark laugh interrupted him and he froze. He looked around wildly; he knew that laugh. "Naruto, get behind me."

"Huh?" Naruto looked at him in confusion and looked around. "Man, where's that creepy laugh coming from?"

"My, my, little brother; you do have your hands full with this one, don't you?" They both looked up at where the voice was coming from.

Sasuke scowled. "Itachi," he spit out his brother's name as if it were poison.

_SasuNaru_

Naruto's eyes widened as he stared at the man casually leaning against a tree. There was no mistaking it; that was Itachi. He was almost the spitting image of Sasuke, except for the fact that he was older, had a heavier frame and Naruto didn't shiver with fear when Sasuke looked at him.

He gasped when Sasuke grabbed his arm and practically threw him behind him. "What are you doing here, Itachi?"

Itachi chuckled again and Naruto barely resisted the urge to shudder. "Five years apart, and you still act like that boy's guard dog. Here I had hoped you had finally grown up."

Sasuke scowled. "Shut up!"

His older brother ignored him and looked at Naruto instead. Naruto suddenly felt the same urge he had when he had first met Itachi at age eleven: which was to hide behind Sasuke. "Well, I can't say I blame you this time, little brother. He's turned into quite a beauty, hasn't he?"

Sasuke drew his sword and hissed, "Stay away from him."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. Your little fiancé has something I want." Naruto blinked in confusion at that. _'Huh? What do I have that he wants? What, does he want a book or something?'_

Sasuke got into a fighting stance. "Whatever you want from Naruto, you're not going to get it. Naruto, run."

Naruto blinked at that and Itachi smirked. "Don't run far." He started move towards them and Sasuke gave him a push.

"Didn't you hear me? I said run!"

Before Naruto could say anything though Itachi gave a surprised grunt and suddenly put his hands to his neck. Naruto stared at the needles he saw in confusion.

"I would get that taken care of if I were you, Itachi," a voice came from in the trees and all three of them looked up to see a boy standing in the branches. Or at least Naruto thought it was boy. His hair was long and pulled back, making him look almost like a girl as well so it was rather hard to tell.

Itachi glared at the intruder and yanked out the needles. After he sniffed them the man snorted. "This is a rudimentary poison. Every decent Shinobi knows the antidote for this."

The boy smiled. "True. But you don't have the antidote with you and the poison is very fast."

Itachi scowled and then looked at Sasuke and Naruto. "Another time, little brother."

Naruto blinked as the man suddenly disappeared. Sasuke lowered his sword and frowned up at the boy in the tree. "Haku, there was no need for interference."

The boy smiled. "My apologies, Uchiha, but Zabuza and I need to speak with you and your mentor. It's quite urgent."

"Zabuza's here too?"

He received a nod. "We'll meet you here in a few minutes."

Haku smiled and then disappeared. Naruto shook his head in confusion and wondered if all Shinobi had the habit of popping up and then disappearing like that. "Hey, Sasuke, who was that?"

Instead of answering him, Sasuke turned to glare at him and Naruto gulped. "The next time I tell you to run, do it," he said firmly and then headed towards the camp.

AUTHOR NOTES: Just so you all know, I tend to suck at writing action scenes, which is why I tend to try to keep them to a minimal in my fics even though I love to watch and read action scenes and some are inevitable in this story. When I do get to the action scenes, I will try not to make them suck. Just don't expect much though…Anyways, there will be a much quicker update next time, especially since I already have about half of it written. PLEASE REVIEW!


	13. Chapter 12

1THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, please don't sue because it would be a waste of your time anyway because I'm broke.

PAIRING: SasuNaruSasu, KakaIru, Zabuza/Haku, Neji/Gaara, LeeSaku, ShikaIno, KibaHina, and others mentioned...

AUTHOR NOTES: See? I told you my update would be faster! Please enjoy and review!

CHAPTER 12:

_Edge of Horei River; a day and a half from Kaze, the capitol of Wind Country,_

When Sasuke returned to their camp he wasn't at all surprised to see Zabuza and Haku already there talking with Kakashi. Zabuza was a tall man who towered over not only his partner, Haku, but Kakashi as well. The man was rough in all areas from his skin, which was covered with battle scars, to his attitude. About the only person he was gentle with was Haku, who was also the only one who had any influence over him to begin with, though the man would strike you down if you dared to mention it.

Sasuke had met the two men about three years ago on his first mission without Kakashi present. He and Zabuza hadn't really gotten along at first but over time they developed a grudging respect for each other. Zabuza was a good ninja, even if Sasuke sometimes found him to be an ass.

"Who's that?" Naruto asked as he came up behind Sasuke.

Though he was still irritated with Naruto for not listening to him earlier he answered, "That's Zabuza, Haku's partner. They're both ninja."

"Oh."

"Naruto, Sasuke, are you two all right?" Iruka asked when he spotted. "Haku just told us what happened with Itachi."

"We're fine," Sasuke answered shortly. Then he looked at Zabuza and Haku, "What are you two doing here?"

Zabuza snorted. "I see you haven't changed at all, brat. Nice to see you too."

Sasuke sighed in irritation. He didn't know why Zabuza still insisted on calling him brat, all he knew was that he didn't like it. His irritation grew when he heard Naruto snicker softly behind him, no doubt at his expense.

"Sasuke," he looked at Kakashi and frowned at his mentors serious face. "We need to talk to you alone." Kakashi looked pointedly at Iruka who nodded.

"Como on, Naruto, lets go pack up the camp."

Naruto frowned and started to protest but stopped under Iruka and Sasuke's glare. "Fine," he muttered and sulked as he followed Iruka.

"Who's the runt?" Zabuza asked after he left, nodding in the direction they had gone.

"My...fiancé," Sasuke said reluctantly. It still felt odd to be calling Naruto that, but he was starting to get used to it. Zabuza and Haku stared at him for minute and then Haku smiled at him.

"Congratulations, Sasuke."

"If you say so," he muttered. "Now what's going on?"

The three men look at him hesitantly and then Kakashi said, "Sound is planning on attacking Fire Palace."

Sasuke stared at him and then at Zabuza and Haku. "That's insane," he said slowly. "Fire Palace is heavily guarded, not to mention the King and Queen both know how to fight themselves. They even know some Jutsus! What could they possibly gain from attacking the palace?"

"Orochimaru wants to start a war," Zabuza said. Sasuke stilled at the familiar name. "Sound is the biggest manufacturer of weapons in the lands. This peace has decreased their profits, and many of its warriors are itching for a battle. Besides, Orochimaru is insane, does he really need a reason to attack anyone?"

He hated to admit it, but Zabuza had a point there. "How do you know this is the truth?"

"Zabuza and I have been recently tailing Sound representatives in Kaze," Haku answered. "They've been acting suspicious lately and Ibiki wanted us to keep an eye on them."

"Figures," Sasuke muttered. The head of the Kaze ninja region had always been a little paranoid, even by ninja standards.

Haku smiled, probably knowing what he was thinking. "This time, his paranoia was a good thing. We intercepted some of their letters to home and managed to decipher their codes."

Rather impressed, Sasuke asked, "And?"

"They've got an army up there," Zabuza said, getting straight to the point. "It's large, and from our spies have been able to gather, it's got a couple of rogue ninja in it."

"How large?" Sasuke asked warily.

"The two of us are headed to the palace now in order to help defend the castle," Zabuza answered. "We've been sending out word to every available ninja and asking for help to any we meet. But there might not be enough of us since we're all on missions nowadays."

"That large, huh?"

Zabuza nodded.

Sasuke sighed. "I would come with you but I'm already on a diplomatic mission now. If Naruto and I aren't in Konoha on time, the alliance between Fire and Wind will be broken."

"So that boy is the Carrier that everyone's talking about?" Haku asked curiously.

Sasuke nodded.

Zabuza sighed. "It's too bad, we could've used your help."

Kakashi then sighed. "You'll be getting it. I'll go with you."

Sasuke blinked and they all stared at Kakashi who had an unusually serious expression on his face. "Kakashi..."

"You need the help. Sasuke doesn't need me here, I'm merely here to make sure he and Naruto don't kill each other."

Haku smiled. "Your help would be greatly appreciated, Kakashi."

Sasuke frowned at his mentor but didn't say anything.

_SasuNaruSasu_

Later that day Naruto was still surprised about Kakashi's decision. They had separated from Zabuza, Haku, and Kakashi earlier in the day and it had felt strange not to have the man around flirting with Iruka-Sensei or making his usual odd jokes. As he lay in his tent, he glanced out through the flap and sighed when he saw Iruka poking at the fire with a frown on his face.

Finally giving up, Naruto got out of his bedroll and joined his Sensei outside. "You're worried about him, aren't you?" he asked quietly. Both of them knew who he was talking about.

"Yes," Iruka said softly. "I know he's perfectly able to take care of himself, but that doesn't stop me from worrying."

Naruto frowned. "But I thought you were still angry with him? For leaving, I mean."

Iruka smiled a little. "So did I."

The two sat in silence until Naruto looked at teacher and said firmly, "Sensei...go after him."

Iruka blinked and start at him. "What?"

Naruto grinned. "Go after him. You love him, don't you?"

"Well...yes," Iruka said, looking surprised when he said yes.

"Then go. They're going to need extra help anyway, and you were a warrior before you started to tutor me, right?"

"That was a long time ago, Naruto."

"You still manage to kick my butt when we spar. Well, some of the time, anyway."

"I...can't just leave you. I have a duty to perform."

Naruto grinned. "I'll be fine. I can handle myself and Sasuke will be here."

Iruka glanced towards Sasuke's tent. "He won't be happy if I leave."

The blond rolled his eyes. "When is he EVER happy? I can handle him."

"Naruto..."

He sighed and crossed his arms. "What, am I going to have to chase you out of here? GO! You want to be with him, I can tell. I'm not a little kid anymore, Sensei; I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive. Now go pack up before Sasuke wakes up, because I'm sure he won't let you leave."

Iruka at smiled at his student and started to quickly pack up his horse.

_SasuNaruSasu_

The minute Sasuke awoke and emerged from his tent he could tell something was up. Naruto was sitting by the fire and looked at him innocently when he glanced at him. When Naruto tried to look innocent, it was usually because he did something, at least that had always been his experience with the blond.

"What did you do?" he asked immediately.

Naruto blinked at him. "What makes you think I did something?"

Sasuke frowned at him and looked around to spot anything that was amiss. He immediately noted the absence of Iruka's horse and tent. He scowled at Naruto. "Where is Iruka?"

Naruto shrugged. "He went and followed Kakashi to help him and the others in battle."

"HE WHAT?"

AUTHORS NOTE: Yes, I know, evil place to leave it at. I will update soon, just be patient. I also would like to note at the end that I know there should be an explamation point after the question mark but for some reason isn't letting me do that, so there you go.


	14. Chapter 13

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.

PAIRINGS: SasuNaruSasu, KakaIru, NejiGaara, LeeSaku, ShikaIno, and others mentioned...

RATING: R to NC-17

AUTHOR NOTES: I'm afraid there's not much development in this chapter, it's mostly a small filler to establish that they've arrived in Kaze and to shed some light on Iruka's past. I'm also sorry for the major delay and yes, it is rather short, but again...FILLER. The next chapter will probably be coming much faster and be much longer. Meanwhile, enjoy.

CHAPTER 13:

_Kaze, Capitol of Wind Country,_

Naruto hurried through the streets of Kaze trying to keep up with Sasuke who was up ahead. That morning had been awkward to say the least. Sasuke had fumed and glared at Naruto throughout the rest of the journey to Kaze. Naruto personally felt like the man had been sulking, but he didn't dare say so as he was pretty sure he was already in big trouble with Sasuke already. It might have been a few years, but Naruto could still tell when Sasuke was close to losing his temper. In an odd way he was happy that some parts of Sasuke were still the same.

The two had arrived in Kaze an hour ago. If Naruto had been amazed at Sand Village, he was awed by Kaze. The city was cradled against mountains where the river ended and flowed through. The city was over three times as large as Sand Village and three times as crowded. He had to duck several times to avoid running into someone's arm or a package. Inwardly cursing his shortness, he had to jog to keep up with Sasuke, who seemed to know where he was going. How he knew was beyond Naruto.

The streets of Kaze were endless and had seemed like a maze to Naruto as the two had rode up to the city's walls. Unlike Sand Village, which had been surrounded around one main street, the streets of Kaze wound in every which direction. There were also several small alleyways made just for walking. All the streets curved up and into the very tops of the mountains. Crowning the top of the mountains was the enormous royal court, a majestic looking building where Naruto remembered from his reading all the royals who were visiting, diplomats and more of the wealthy class lived. Looking up at the enormous building, he now understood how an entire class of people could live in one place, though he bet it was a pain to walk so far if you were traveling.

_'I wonder if the architect planned it that way as a way to get back at the rich' _the blond smirked at the thought. If that had been the case he certainly didn't blame the architect. Having put up with nobles all his life, he most definitely understood.

Sasuke had led him to a building rather close to the center of the city and into a room where he told Naruto to deposit his things and follow him, barely giving him time to look around the place he assumed they would be staying. Now he was following the man all through the city, or at least that was what it felt like to his aching feet. He was about to open his mouth to beg Sasuke if they could rest for a minute when Sasuke finally stopped in front of a tall circular building that towered over the other buildings it was neighboring in the small square.

"In here," Sasuke said to him curtly. Naruto (barely resisting the urge to stick out his tongue) finally decided to speak as the two entered the building.

"Sasuke, where are we?"

"We're at the Wind Country Division Headquarters for the Shinobi."

"Huh?"

Sasuke sighed. "Each country has a headquarters for Shinobi along with the main one at Konoha. This one is the one for Wind."

"Oh. What was that place we went to earlier?"

"A place for Shinobi to stay while they conduct business here. Every one of the capitals has one."

"Nice."

"Hmm."

Naruto took that as Sasuke's way of ending the conversation and so took the opurtunity to look around the place. It was surprisingly normal looking. He wasn't sure what he had expected a ninja headquarters to look like, but it certainly wasn't just an average looking place of business. About the only way Naruto would be able to tell that Shinobi worked here was the fact that several of them passed the two of them in the halls.

They were all so NORMAL looking too! Sure, they were uniforms like Sasuke's in varying colors and a majority had on the headband marking a Wind Shinobi, not to mention they had quite a few scars on some of them, but really they looked like regular people. He even noticed one guy leaning against the wall and trying to flirt with a pretty girl._ 'I guess it's just Sasuke who is anti-social then' _he thought with a sigh.

As if to confirm his thoughts, Sasuke turned to him abruptly and said, "Stay here."

This time, he didn't hold back his urge to stick out his tongue at Sasuke's back.

SasuNaru

"So now Iruka Umino is going to battle?" Ibiki Morino looked at him with an unreadable expression.

Normal people probably would have flinched at the look, but Sasuke was more then used to it by now. He had met Ibiki on previous occasions when the man had come to Konoha. In fact, the man had been the one who gave him his first test in the exam that had made him a full fledged Shinobi less then a year ago. So he just nodded, fully expecting to be reprimanded for allowing to let the man leave in the first place. Sure, it wasn't technically his fault that Iruka had slipped past him, but he wasn't one to make excuses.

Then to his surprise, Ibiki smirked. "Well, those Sound ninja are in for a surprise, aren't they?"

Sasuke blinked. "Sir?"

"You can relax, Uchiha, I'm not going to ream you for this one. In fact, it might be a good thing."

"A good thing?" Sasuke asked in disbelief. "How?"

"How much do you know about Iruka Umino?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I know he's been looking after Naruto since birth."

"Do you know what he did before that?"

He had to admit that he didn't. He hadn't really interacted much with Naruto's tutor when they were younger so he didn't know the man well other then the fact that Naruto adored his teacher, despite their frequent arguments.

"Umino-san used to be a warrior."

Sasuke stared at Ibiki in surprise. He knew Iruka knew how to fight, at least that's what Naruto had told him, but a warrior?

"He was one of the royal guards as a matter of fact. I'm still not sure on all the details, but from what I gather he was the one that found your fiancé and brought him to the palace. Apparently, the King decided that Iruka would be the best one to look after him and teach him."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. He had never heard that before, but then he had never really asked Naruto about things like his parents before so it wasn't a surprise he didn't know. Still, it was good to know that Iruka could at least take care of himself. "So I suppose it's a good thing that Iruka-Sensei is going with Kakashi?"

"If what I've heard about his skills are true then it's more then just a good thing."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What have you heard about his skills?"

"That they were good enough to get him an invitation to become a Shinobi. He would probably be one of us now, if he hadn't found the Carrier."

Sasuke felt his respect for Iruka jump up a notch at that information. Being invited to become a Shinobi meant you were good. The only reason he was a Shinobi now was because Kakashi had spoken for him and even after that, he had to go through a series of tests to even become a trainee. '_But then the fact that he's been able to keep up with Naruto all these years proves he has a lot of strength to begin with_' he thought ruefully.

"So, you do know that you're expected at court tomorrow, right?" Ibiki said.

"What?" Sasuke said in dismay. "I thought we would at least have two to three days of rest."

"Sorry, kid. There are visiting diplomats from Fire Country here, they want to see the two of you and congratulate themselves on a job well done and whatnot."

Sasuke sighed. "We'll be there." _'Assuming I don't decide to strangle Naruto between now and then_' he thought silently.

SasuNaruSasu

"We're expected where?" Naruto asked, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"There's supposed to be some party at court tomorrow, they want us to be there." Sasuke said as he lead them to their room.

"Man," Naruto muttered. "I thought I got out of having to put up with stuffy nobles when I left the palace."

Despite himself, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk. "Sorry. I'm afraid they're everywhere."

"Damn." He looked at Sasuke hopefully, "Don't suppose you could persuade them that they don't want us there?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "How am I supposed to do that?"

Naruto thought for a minute and then grinned. "Glare at them!"

Sasuke snorted. "It won't work."

"How do you know?"

"I've already tried it before," Sasuke admitted a little sheepishly.

The blond blinked and then grinned. "Really?"

"You think I enjoy these things? I probably hate them more then you do."

Naruto had to agree with him there. They had reached their room and now looking around, he noticed something. "Hey, there's only one bed!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Well spotted."

"Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"The bed is big enough. We can share," Sasuke said casually. Naruto stared at him.

"What?" He started to protest but Sasuke had already moved on, gathering a towel and other cleaning supplies.

"I'm going to go wash up," he said, heading towards the door. Then he glanced at Naruto out of the corner of his eye. "You better not snore like you used too."

Naruto sputtered at him but Sasuke left before he could retort.

SasuNaruSasu

Later that night, Sasuke lay fast asleep but Naruto was wide awake next to him. He wasn't sure why he couldn't just fall asleep. '_It's not like it's that big of a deal_' he thought to himself. Hell, when they were kids he used to sneak over to Sasuke's room at night for sleep overs or when he had bad dreams. Of course that was when they were little which they weren't anymore. Naruto was all too aware of this as he glanced over at Sasuke, who had turned onto his side so he was facing Naruto. Now, their faces were inches from each other and Naruto felt his face heat up.

Inwardly cursing Sasuke, he turned in the opposite direction. '_You better get used to this' _he thought to himself. '_After all, you are going to be married within the next month_.' That didn't make it any easier though. He felt like he was torn in two. Part of him wanted to just give in to the familiar feelings that were coming back. It would be so easy too, because Sasuke was still Sasuke. Frustrating, annoying, and yet wonderful at the same time.

But the other part of him kept trying to cling to his rapidly disappearing anger and hurt at Sasuke. That part was mostly his pride, Iruka-Sensei had always said he had a little too much of it at times. He sighed at the thought of his mentor. If there was ever a time he wished for his teacher's presence it was now.

But he didn't regret pushing Iruka into following Kakashi. It had helped eased a large part of him that had always felt a little guilty at being responsible for his teacher putting his own life on hold for his. Iruka had never said anything, but Naruto knew he had given up a lot to be Naruto's guardian. He had always suspected that the reason Iruka had kept Kakashi at bay for so long was because he felt it would interfere with his duty to Naruto.

Still, he would've liked hearing his guardian's advice right about now. Because at the moment, he felt horribly confused.

AUTHORS NOTE: PLEASE REVIEW! I'm also thinking of doing a series of one-shots based around this verse that shed some light on background stuff. For instance, the first one I'm thinking of doing is about how Iruka found Naruto, plus a lot of chibi-Naruto/Sasuke moments. If enough people express interest I'll actually do it. Let me know if you're interested!


	15. Chapter 14

1THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

RATING: R to NC17

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto no matter how much I may wish I did.

PAIRINGS: Do I really need to tell you now? Just know that it is SasuNaruSasu.

WARNINGS: There is Mpreg mentioned in this fic but I'm probably not going to go into great detail about the process because it's not essential to the story. Just know that Naruto can have kids and if you don't like that idea then just ignore that part.

AUTHOR NOTES: I've decided to do the one-shot series idea. It'll be starting up probably when I post the next chapter so be on the lookout for it!

CHAPTER 14:

_Kaze City, Capitol of Wind Country,_

When Naruto woke up, he realized he was alone. He sleepily rolled over and blinked when he saw a piece of paper laying on Sasuke's side of the bed. He grabbed it as he got up and read it.

_Naruto, _

_I'm going to be gone for awhile; stuff has come up, but I'll try to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, stay in the room, and STAY OUT OF TROUBLE until I get back._

_Sasuke_

The blond scowled at the note. Wasn't that just like Sasuke? '_Not only does he not tell me what this stuff is, he's ordering me around again!_' Pretending the note was Sasuke, he stuck out his tongue at it. "Jerk," he muttered, as he pulled on his clothes. "I'm going to give him a piece of my mind when he gets back! Who does he think he is? My mother?"

Fully intending to tell Sasuke off, he waited in the room all morning until it became clear that Sasuke wasn't coming back anytime soon and his stomach started to growl. He had eaten some of the leftover food they had from the trip for breakfast but that was all that had been left. Finally getting fed up, he grabbed the bag that had his money in it and left a note on the door:

_Sasuke,_

_I left to go get something to eat, I'll be back._

_Naruto_

_P.S. You're a bastard._

Naruto felt a twinge of guilt as he left, but then remembered how much of jerk Sasuke had been lately and then the guilt went away. _'It serves him right if he starts to worry about me' _he thought vindictively. Of course, Sasuke was more then likely going to be pissed at him instead of worried but at this point, Naruto really couldn't bring himself to care. _'I've had it with him ordering me around and treating me like some kid!'_

_SasuNaruSasuNaru_

Sasuke left his meeting with Ibiki with a sense of weariness. The man had wanted to tell him all the latest developments, including the situation that Kakashi, and now Iruka were heading in too. As he had anticipated, it wasn't anything good. '_Damn you, Orochimaru_' he thought as he walked down the hall, paying no attention to the people who dodged him when they saw the fierce scowl on his face.

If he hadn't been in this current position he would've loved to go with Zabuza and Haku and kick the snot out of Orochimaru and his minions as he liked to refer to the group who obeyed the madman's every whim. He could at least be satisfied with the fact that Kakashi could give the man a good butt kicking for him. '_Right now, it's best to concentrate on getting Naruto to Konoha safely._' Between that and Orochimaru, he had the slight suspicion that he had the harder mission because heaven knew, Naruto wasn't going to make things easy for him.

As he got closer to his room he frowned when he saw a piece of paper wedged in between the crack and pulled it out and read it. He scowled and several people started when he yelled, "Damn it, Naruto!"

One of these days he was going to kill the blond.

_SasuNaruSasuNaru_

Unaware of the current danger he was in, Naruto was in heaven. He had found a restaurant just outside of the building he and Sasuke were staying in and had found out that they not only sold ramen, they sold GOOD ramen. Ramen was without a doubt his favorite food. Unfortunately, not many people made it in this part of the country and he had always had to talk the cooks in the palace into making it for him. He was of the firm belief that if someone would find a way to make ramen in less then twenty minutes, life would be perfect.

To his delight, he had discovered he had enough for at least three bowls and paid for them. He was devouring his second, when he noticed a shadow over him and glanced up and barely hid the flinch when he saw Sasuke, scowling down at him. He swallowed the ramen he had been shoveling into his mouth quickly and smiled warily at the man. "Uh...hey, Sasuke! Hungry? They have the best ramen here!"

Sasuke didn't answer him; instead he sat down across from him and waited for him to finish eating. It was a little hard for Naruto to enjoy his noodles after that, especially since Sasuke glared at him with his arms crossed throughout the rest of the meal. Sasuke silently stayed near him as he paid for his food and headed back towards the building.

They had reached the side of the building when Sasuke suddenly grabbed his arm and pushed him into the alleyway in between the two buildings. "Hey-," Naruto started to protest but stopped when Sasuke pushed him against the wall.

"What is the matter with you?" Sasuke demanded. Naruto glared back at him.

"ME?! You're the one pushing people against walls!" He rubbed the back of his head. "That hurt, Bastard!"

"Naruto, we are not on vacation here. You cannot just wander off, or have you forgotten the fact that Itachi seems to want you for some reason?"

"No, I haven't forgotten."

"Then why do you insist on not listening to me?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Well, why do you insist on treating me like I'm some little kid or something who can't take care of himself?"

Sasuke sighed in frustration and massaged his temple. "Naruto, we've discussed this already. You are my responsibility-."

"Says who?" Naruto demanded. "Did the Queen of Fire Country outright tell you that you were to treat me like I'm made of glass?"

"No," Sasuke admitted reluctantly. "But I'm to get you to Konoha safely and I can't do that when you insist on fighting me the whole way!"

"You think this is fighting?" Naruto said, snorting. "Please, I haven't gotten around to punching you. YET."

Sasuke frowned at him and then said, "All right, what will it take for you to cooperate with me for the rest of the trip?"

The blond blinked at him. "Huh?"

"We have to be cautious for the rest of the trip, Naruto. It'll go a lot easier for both of us if we work together and get along, and not just for this trip either. So, what will it take?"

Naruto stared at him for a few minutes, and then said, "A fight."

Sasuke blinked in confusion. "What?"

The blond smirked. "I want to fight you. If I win, you have to treat me like an equal. If I lose, I will listen to you for the rest of the trip."

Sasuke paused. "No more rebelling?"

Naruto hesitated and then reluctantly nodded. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "You realize there's little chance of you winning?"

The blond smirked. "Says you."

"Fine," Sasuke said shortly and turned towards the back of the building. He paused when he saw that Naruto wasn't following. "Do you want to have this match or not? We don't have much time before the party, so I would like to get it over with as soon as possible."

Naruto scowled and followed him. _'Ha. You won't be so cocky when I'm through with you, Jerk.'_

_SasuNaruSasu_

Sasuke had no idea what Naruto was hoping to gain with this fight but he wasn't turning it down. Either way the fight ended (though he highly doubted Naruto would actually WIN) he got what he wanted. Besides which, he even had the excuse of punching Naruto which was something he'd been itching to do for awhile, even if he had repressed the urge.

He led Naruto to an area that was reserved for Shinobi to practice on; luckily the place wasn't being used as most of them were at lunch now. He would rather not have an audience for this.

The two of them stood in front of each other and Sasuke hesitated. "Still sure about this?"

Naruto got into a fighting stance. "What's the matter? Scared?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. _'That's it._' He got into his own fighting stance. "Just giving you a chance to quit while you're ahead, Dobe."

Naruto growled at the old hated nickname and charged forward. The first few minutes were taken up with Naruto throwing punches and aiming kicks at him. Sasuke was able to dodge and deflect them but he had to admit, they were good solid moves. _'He wasn't kidding when he said he could take care of himself_' Sasuke thought, while catching a fist aimed at his head.

Another fist came towards him and he caught that with his other hand. Now Naruto pushed against him and scowled, "Fight back, damn it!"

Sasuke scowled back. He had been planning on going a little easy on Naruto since the man wasn't a fully trained Shinobi, but the blond obviously wasn't going to let him do that, so he obliged. He swung back one of his legs but Naruto leaped out of the way in time. Sasuke moved forward and this time, he was punching and kicking while Naruto was dodging and deflecting.

Sasuke finally managed to land a punch on Naruto's face but he got one in return and they sprang apart. Naruto suddenly reached down into his boot and pulled out a kunai knife. Sasuke blinked in surprise and then pulled out his own kunai and this time, there were clangs as their weapons banged against each other.

_'He can't just take care of himself, he's good. Really good_' Sasuke thought as the two struggled against each other. The fight had now lasted over at least ten minutes and he'd honestly hadn't expected Naruto last this long. _'What the hell has Iruka been teaching him?'_

They paused again and then Sasuke's eyes widened when Naruto started to make familiar hand gestures. _'Impossible! Even if he looked at a scroll or two, he wouldn't know how to_-' his thoughts were stopped when suddenly five replicas of Naruto appeared. '_How can he know THAT jutsu?!' _The Shadow Clone technique was supposed to be a forbidden jutsu for crying out loud!

But he had no time to ponder how Naruto had gotten a hold of this technique (and knowing Naruto, he probably didn't WANT to know) since suddenly six Narutos where coming at him and he had to concentrate on dodging all of them which to his surprise where all perfectly solid.

But the problem with Shadow Clones were that they tended to disappear easily, he managed to wipe out all five and just as the last one disappeared, he tackled the real Naruto and effectively pinned him to the ground. The blond struggled against him, but he was bigger and heavier so it was no use.

"Yield, Naruto," he said calmly to the blond who paused in his struggles. "You're not going to get loose."

Naruto stared up at him and then looked over to the side and muttered. "Fine."

Sasuke cautiously got off of him and watched as Naruto slowly sat up. "Where the hell did you learn that jutsu? It's supposed to be forbidden."

Naruto looked at him and said dully, "I learned it."

He frowned. "From where?"

The blond suddenly scowled. "None of your business. I said I would listen to you after I lost, not that I'd tell you every little thing about my life. I'll be in our room." He stood up and left quickly.

"So, that's him?" a voice suddenly said from behind Sasuke, he glanced behind him to see Ibiki looking in the direction Naruto left.

"Yes."

"He's not bad," Ibiki said. Sasuke blinked in surprise; Ibiki didn't give praise often. "With a little more training, the kid would make a decent Shinobi."

Sasuke rubbed the cheek where Naruto had hit him gingerly; it was starting to ache more then a little. "Yes, he would."

_SasuNaruSasu_

Naruto sat in front of the mirror and just stared at his reflection. He honestly hadn't really expected to win the fight. In fact, he hadn't even planned on challenging Sasuke at all, but minute the idea came to him he went with it. A part of him had always wondered how good Sasuke was, and this showed him. He was giving the fight his all but Sasuke hadn't even needed to use a jutsu! '_At least I got to punch him once_' he thought in satisfaction. But now he was stuck.

He heard the door open and turned to look at Sasuke who entered the room. Naruto watched as he went over to the bags and dug out something and blinked when the man handed him a bottle.

"For your cheek," Sasuke said when he saw his confused look.

"Oh." It had been starting to ache quite a bit.

Sasuke sat on the bed and watched him as he rubbed the strange smelling substance on his face. "I really don't know you anymore, do I?"

Naruto blinked at the sudden question and looked Sasuke who was studying him in a way that made him feel self conscious. "No, not really. But then I don't really know you anymore, so we're even."

Sasuke stared at him. "I guess that's true."

Naruto was starting to feel a nervous with Sasuke studying him like that. _'Can't he look somewhere else?'_

"Does Iruka know that you know that jutsu?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

Naruto hesitated. "Uh...no, not exactly. I would prefer that he didn't find out either, if it's all the same to you." Heaven knew what his teacher would do to him if he found out that Naruto had been secretly learning forbidden jutsus behind his back! He personally, didn't want to think about it.

"So I take it, he didn't teach you jutsus?"

"Uh..no."

Sasuke looked at him curiously. "Do you know any other jutsus?"

Naruto wondered at the sudden curiosity. "Just some of the basic stuff; like disappearing, replacement, and all that stuff."

"Hmm..." Naruto silently wondered if he had something on his forehead and really wished Sasuke would look somewhere else; he felt himself starting to blush under the scrutiny.

Sasuke suddenly stood up. "We better start getting ready."

Naruto looked at him in confusion at the sudden change in topic.

"For the party, remember?"

"Oh, right." He started to gather his clothes but stopped when Sasuke called his name. "What?"

"Look, I realize now that you can take care of yourself, but at least try to tell me when you're going someplace all right?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto blinked in surprise and then smiled slightly. "Okay, I guess I can do that."

"Good," Sasuke turned back to his bags and Naruto couldn't help but smile at his back. '_Maybe I'm not as stuck as I thought.'_

AUTHOR NOTES: I know what you all are thinking: Naruto LOST?! But remember, this is an AU. In this verse, Sasuke has had much more training and is much more used to fighting then Naruto, who while very good, is still a beginner in many ways. Think of it as Sasuke is a Jounin while Naruto is still a Genin. Of course that doesn't mean that Naruto isn't going to get much better in the future. As for where Naruto learned jutsus...that's going to be revealed sometime in the future. For those confused about the ramen part, in this world there is no such thing as instant ramen yet (I know, horrible thought) so it has to be made by hand which takes longer.


	16. Chapter 15

1THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto...nor am I (sadly) making any money off of this.

PAIRING: SasuNaruSasu and several others

WARNINGS: Mentions of Mpreg...Yaoi obviously.

AUTHOR NOTES: Yes, the boys have finally reached an understanding (kind of). That doesn't mean it will all go smoothly, however there will probably be a lot more time spent on developing their relationship in the future since now they are basically on their own. Look forward to several more fluff scenes. The separate one shots will be started soon along with other projects, for further details, see profile.

CHAPTER 15:

_Kaze City, Royal Court_,

Sasuke was not a fan of the court for several reasons. The major one was that he was simply not a social person at all. It wasn't that he didn't like people...he just didn't like to be around A LOT of people at once, all of whom expected him to give them attention. About the only time he was ever actually comfortable in social situations was when he was with other Shinobi and that was only because he knew what to expect with them; they were just as odd, if not odder, then he was. The court, however...was an entirely different atmosphere.

Other reasons he hated it varied, among them being the type of people who were usually in court, having to follow a social structure that he had very limited knowledge of, and of course having to make small talk; something he had always been bad at, even after he became friends with Naruto.

"You look like you're about to face a firing squad," a voice came from behind him. He turned to see Naruto, looking at him in slight amusement. He was once again dressed in a dress tunic (this one a sky blue) and black breeches with boots. '_He looks good in blue_' Sasuke thought and then blinked at the odd stray thought. Since when did he care what Naruto looked good in? He shook his head, causing Naruto to look at him in curiosity. "You okay?"

"Fine. Well, about as fine as I can be considering things."

"Hmm." Naruto came to stand beside him and looked down at what he was looking at. The two were standing on a balcony overlooking a vast open hall with tall floor to ceiling windows and filled with what looked to be every important person in Kaze. "Maybe it won't be as bad as we think."

Sasuke looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, so it probably will be. But hey! We won't be suffering alone!" Naruto said with a grin.

"What?"

The blond sighed and said slowly, as if speaking to a child. "We're BOTH going to be there, aren't we?"

"Yes," Sasuke said slowly, wondering what that had to do with anything.

Naruto smirked. "So, we can help each other out!"

"How?"

"Well...say for instance I get stuck talking to a REALLY boring guy. I can give you a signal, then you come over and ask me to dance and poof, I'm not only no longer bored; you just saved me the trouble of bashing someone's head in!"

Feeling amused, despite himself, Sasuke said, "Well, that helps YOU. How is this going to help me?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at him. "I can do the same thing for you, of course."

Sasuke hesitated and then said, "You realize that if we do this, we actually do have to dance?"

The blond shrugged. "Better you then a boring noble who would probably try to grope me."

Sasuke blinked and frowned at him. "Grope you?"

Naruto avoided his eyes. "It's been known to happen once or twice. Though I was able to hit the last guy who tried."

"Hmm..." Sasuke said. He made a mental note to be sure and impress upon the court the fact that he would NOT appreciate it if Naruto continued to get groped while he was around. Then he paused and wondered why he cared. It wasn't as if Naruto couldn't take care of himself; his jaw was proof enough of that; it still ached from where Naruto had punched him earlier. Seeing that Naruto didn't seem to want to go into further details, he changed the subject. "So what signal should we use?"

Naruto paused. "Hmm...good question."

_'He's really considering this' _Sasuke thought in bemusement as he watched Naruto frown in thought.

"Excuse me," a voice came from behind them and Sasuke turned to see a servant, dressed in plain black clothing standing behind them. "I've been sent to tell you both that it is almost time to introduce you and ask you to please proceed to the staircase."

"Thank you," Sasuke said; the man nodded and left. He turned to Naruto and held up an arm. "Well; shall we?"

Naruto blinked at the arm and then went, "Oh, yeah." Then he placed his hand on it.

As the two came to the staircase he quickly whispered, "Okay, a tug on the earlobe means we need to be kept from throttling someone, got it?"

"Got it," Sasuke whispered back.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

_'Good Lord, rich people are boring' _Naruto thought to himself as he danced with an old lady who was prattling on about something or other. He had honestly tried listening to the first few people who told him what they considered interesting stories about themselves, but after a while they all started to sound alike.

The party had been going on for about an hour now and if they were anything like the court parties in the palace, it would go on into the wee hours of the morning. It was his experience that there was nothing better nobles liked then a good party and in order to stay in their good graces the person in charge (in this case the head of Kaze city's government) would let the party go on until the last guest left.

He and Sasuke had been separated quite awhile ago and he had lost sight of the other man a few minutes ago. _'So much for my signal idea' _he thought forlornly. He just hoped Sasuke didn't glare anyone to death while he wasn't looking.

_**SasuNaru**_

Sasuke stared at the man in front of him and tried to silently will him to shut up. '_Usually my glares work on people_' he thought, '_I must be losing my touch_'. He wasn't sure what it was about the man that he didn't like. Maybe it was the oily voice that reminded him a bit of Orochimaru; or possibly it was because the man was a pompous imbecile. Naruto, he knew, would probably laugh if he heard him calling someone else arrogant, but he at least didn't brag constantly; he was just confident about his abilities, that was all.

If he knew for a fact that Naruto was around, he would've actually tried the tugging on the ear thing but he hadn't seen the blond for the past hour and a half so he was pretty sure the gesture would have been useless. That didn't mean the blond hadn't been useful though. "If you'll excuse me, I need to find my fiancé," he said to the man whose name he didn't even remember. All of the nobles were starting to look alike.

"Oh yes, the Carrier," the man said in a disdainful tone. "My sympathies for getting stuck with a marriage like that."

"Excuse me?" Sasuke said coldly, starting to like the man less and less.

"The boy is good looking enough," the man continued on, obviously not realizing he was treading on thin ice. "But really, he's a Carrier. What is our country coming too when we are forced to use half-demons in place of brides?"

Sasuke glared at him, feeling the urge to smack the man grow larger. He knew there were slight prejudices against Carriers due to their heritage, especially among the upper class, but that didn't mean he had to put up with hearing Naruto being judged like that. He hadn't liked hearing the council do it when they were younger and he liked hearing it even less now. But before he could open his mouth to put the man in his place Naruto came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Want to dance?" the blond asked quickly.

Sasuke reluctantly agreed and let the blond pull him to the dance floor. When they started to dance to the slightly slow waltz, Sasuke glanced down at the blond and asked, "So where have you been?"

Naruto shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry, after that one lady asked me dance, I got bombarded by other women curious about me. I think I've finally convinced them that I'm really just normal, except for the whole being able to give birth thing."

"Oh."

Naruto looked up at him curiously. "So what was that guy saying?"

"What?"

"The guy you were talking to just now."

"Oh," Sasuke hesitated, and then said, "Nothing."

The blond raised an eyebrow. "Really? You looked awfully mad for a guy who was saying nothing."

Sasuke looked down at him curiously. "How do you know I was mad?"

Naruto smirked. "Sasuke, please. I've had you mad at me enough times to recognize the signs. The biggest tipoff is when your left eye starts to twitch and your frown becomes a full blown scowl."

"My left eye does not twitch."

"Oh yes it does. Occasionally you get a vein in your forehead too. It's fun to watch."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You would think watching me get mad is fun to watch."

Naruto shrugged. "What can I say; I'm weird. But we both knew that, so come on; what was he saying?"

Hesitating, he finally said. "He called you a half demon."

Naruto blinked. "That's it? Sasuke, I AM a half demon. Having at least one demon for a parent is how Carriers are usually born, remember?"

"I know that, but it was the way he said it that bugged me."

"Oh," Naruto said quietly, realizing what he was getting at.

Sasuke looked down at him. "Aren't you mad?"

The blond shrugged. "Sure, but getting mad isn't going to help anything. Besides, I'm honestly kind of used to it. The council thought the same way, though they tried to hide it better because of the King."

Sasuke scowled. "You shouldn't have to be used to it."

Naruto stared up at him for a few minutes and suddenly smiled at him. Feeling suddenly self-conscious under his gaze, Sasuke asked, "What?'

"Nothing," Naruto said, still having that strange smile on his face. Then Sasuke blinked when Naruto shifted closer as they were dancing and rested his head on Sasuke's shoulder.

_'What did I say?' _he thought in confusion.

_**SasuNaru**_

The two of them finally managed to sneak off an hour later after dinner had long been served. Naruto had found a back hallway that lead directly outside and once people started to drink the wine that appeared after dinner, the two snuck out.

"Come on; lets find a real party," Naruto said to Sasuke, tugging on his hand.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Where exactly do you expect to find a 'real party'?"

The blond shrugged. "No clue. But I don't want to go to sleep yet. It's not even ten!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Then he reluctantly said, "Well, there is a place that Shinobi go too, around here..."

"Great! Lets go!" Naruto pumped up a fist then headed down the road they were on and then paused and turned back to Sasuke and said sheepishly, "Uh...where is it, exactly?"

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk and pointed to a street leading to the right. "This way, Dobe."

"Don't call me that!" Naruto yelled after him as he started off towards the pub.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Naruto couldn't help but stare around the pub that Sasuke had lead him into. It was definitely a different crowd then the court. Like Sasuke said, a majority of the people were Shinobi. Most of them from various villages in Wind Country, though he spotted a few headbands sporting symbols from villages in the neighboring countries of Fire and Earth. Most of them were dressed casually in their uniforms, making him feel slightly over-dressed in his velvet tunic.

But this crowd was much more interesting then at the party. Over in the corner, he spied a group having a drinking contest of some sort. In another, there was a card game going on. There was lively conversation going on around them and friends greeting each other enthusiastically. There was also much better live music playing in the background. '_Now THIS is a party!' _he thought happily.

He glanced across the table at Sasuke and sighed when he noticed the bored expression on the man's face. "Don't you know how to have fun anymore?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "When exactly would I have had time for fun, Naruto? I'm a Shinobi, remember?"

Naruto jerked a thumb in the direction of the drinking game. "THEY'RE Shinobi; they're having fun."

Sasuke snorted. "Oh yes, getting drunk and falling flat on your face is a lot of fun."

Something in the man's voice made the blond looked at him in surprise. "You've done it before?"

Shifting self-consciously, Sasuke muttered, "My eighteenth birthday."

Naruto looked at him in surprise. "YOU got drunk on your eighteenth birthday?!"

"It wasn't intentional," Sasuke muttered.

"Then how did it happen?" When Sasuke remained silent he frowned. "Oh come on! You can't let something like that slip and then not tell me the whole story! Not fair!"

Sasuke sighed. "Look, there's really nothing to tell."

"Sure there is," Naruto said with a smirk. "Otherwise you wouldn't be so uncomfortable talking about it."

Sasuke glared at the blond who ignored it as usual. Seeing that Naruto wasn't going to let up, he sighed and said, "Fine. If you must know, some of my peers took it upon themselves to take me to a local place in Konoha on my birthday. I honestly don't remember much of the night, but according to Neji, I ended up throwing up on Gaara's shoes at one point." Privately, he was a little sorry he didn't remember that part, if only to have the memory of the redhead's face; Kiba had told him it was hilarious.

Naruto stared at him. "You threw up on someone's shoes?" He nodded stiffly and then Naruto burst out laughing.

Sasuke glared at the blond. '_Figures, I manage to actually get him to laugh and it's at my expense' _

"It's not that funny," he muttered.

The blond snorted. "Are you kidding? That's hilarious! The great Sasuke Uchiha taken down by alcohol! Oh man, I'm sorry I missed that."

Deciding he had enough of getting laughed at, he turned the tables. "So I suppose your first experience with alcohol was any better?"

"I didn't throw up on anyone's shoes if that's what you mean," Naruto said, still snickering.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Then I suppose Iruka-sensei was there?"

The blond rolled his eyes. "Of course. You think he'd let me celebrate my adulthood alone? He and the council members all killed my fun. Plus, Konohamaru and his buds were at the party too, so I couldn't exactly serve a lot of alcohol."

"Oh, I see." Of course, Naruto spent it at Wind Palace. He then realized something, "This is your first time in an actual pub isn't it?"

"Yup!" Naruto said cheerfully. "It's great too! Just how I've always imagined it!"

Sasuke couldn't help but be amused. "You've imagined what pubs look like?"

Naruto shrugged sheepishly. "Well what was I supposed to do? I mean, they never let me out of the palace until now."

Sasuke shook his head. "I never understood that rule."

"It's just how things are done with Carriers," Naruto said sadly.

"Hmm..." Sasuke grunted. _'It's still not right_' he thought fiercely. He had never liked any of the old codes that restricted his friends freedom. But as Naruto said, they had been there for a long time, ever since the first few Carriers came into existence. Some, such as Iruka and Gaara's mother, fought to change the laws but people tended to be stubborn about the old laws and traditions in these lands.

He glanced at Naruto curiously, "So, what do you think of it?"

Naruto looked up from his glass in confusion. "Of what?"

"This is your first time seeing the outside world. What do you think of it so far?"

The blond thought a minute and then grinned, "It's great! I can't wait to see the rest of it!"

Sasuke couldn't help but smile back.

TO BE CONTINUED...

AUTHOR NOTES: And now we are possibly about 3/4 to half way done. I'm thinking there are going to be fifty chapters...but I might be able to cut that down to forty or thirty-something. So this fic is FAR from over. Now that I'm pretty sure I've established everything I can get into building more stuff. Hopefully now that I have a more established internet connection I can get more regular updates.

NOTES ON AU VERSE:

-In this world, the legal drinking age is 18 (which is what I personally think it should be in the US, but I won't get into that), which is also when you are officially considered an adult.

-The old codes refer to a set of laws that have been made in ancient times concerning things like how the government is run, Shinobi law, Carriers, demons, etc. People occasionally rally to get them changed because quite a few of them (particularly the ones for Carriers, class, and other such creatures) are viewed as really old-fashioned.

Please note: SasuNaruSasu means not only a POV switch but a scene change/time shift. SasuNaru means a POV switch but no scene change and very little time shift. Just thought I'd clear that up for anyone who was confused.


	17. Chapter 16

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

RATING: R to NC-17

DISCLAIMER: I obviously do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Otherwise, there wouldn't be subtext of SasuNaru in the manga, there would be cannon. I'm also sadly not making any dough whatsoever off of this.

PAIRINGS: Do I still have to write them all out? Just know it's SasuNaruSasu

WARNINGS: see first chapter. None for this chapter, unless you want to be warned ahead of time of fluff and not much plot line development.

AUTHOR NOTES: So here are more fluff parts. Actual story development will start up again in the next chapter but I needed a little time to develop the boys' relationship also, plus I need time to develop scenes as well. Itachi will be returning to the reviewer who mentioned his absence. He's just laying low right now because they're in the city and he's smart enough to realize that a city full of Shinobi is probably not the best place to be.

CHAPTER 16:

_Kaze City, Shinobi Guest Quarters,_

Sasuke woke up with a start when an arm smacked him in the head. The man grumbled and pushed the arm aside, glaring at the arm's owner for interrupting his sleep. Naruto, however, slept on. The blond had rolled over to his side so he was facing Sasuke and thus his arm had moved accordingly.

With a sigh, Sasuke laid back onto the bed thinking _'I'd forgotten what a restless sleeper he was.'_

When they were younger Naruto had suffered from nightmares for a little bit and the boy had been terrified of thunderstorms for some reason or other. For reasons Sasuke couldn't imagine, the younger Naruto would seek refuge in his room instead of going to Iruka who was certainly better equipped to deal with him. The first time it happened, Sasuke tried to kick the boy out but relented under puppy dog eyes. The blond was well aware that he had been considered adorable and used it to his advantage; Sasuke had hated to admit it, but he wasn't as immune to the look as he wished he was.

So Sasuke relented, and then Naruto came again, and again. It soon became a bit of a habit to leave his door unlocked when he knew storms were coming or just in case. So by the time he was thirteen, he had become quite familiar with Naruto's sleeping habits. Sometime over the past five years though, it seemed he had forgotten. Faced once again with a sleeping Naruto, who had shifted closer to him in his sleep, he wished he had remembered and thought to ask for a TWO BED guest room.

Sasuke tensed when Naruto shifted again and was suddenly right up against him. "Damn it," he muttered softly.

He might have acted like this was no big deal when Naruto was awake, but honestly, it kind of was for him. He wasn't used to sharing a bed with someone, or even used to physical contact at all. The other night, he had awoken with a start when Naruto's hand had touched his elbow and caught himself in time so he hadn't woken up Naruto. He had spent a majority of the night wide awake after, acutely aware of the other male's presence beside him. It was a good thing he was used to getting little sleep.

_'You better get used to this Uchiha; he's going to be here for a long time_' Sasuke scolded himself. He turned onto his side and studied his companion. It was amazing how different Naruto looked when he was asleep. Asleep, his face relaxed and it made him look younger; almost similar to the child that Sasuke met all those years ago. Asleep, Sasuke also became aware of just how much Naruto was NOT a child anymore.

He wasn't sure he liked knowing this.

It was easier for Sasuke to think of Naruto as his goofy childhood friend. That Naruto, he knew how to deal with. But it was becoming more and more clear that Naruto was no longer the childish boy who followed him around like a puppy dog. A part of him was proud of this stronger Naruto, but another part ached for the loss of his friend. Then there was the part that found this new Naruto fascinating. He didn't know why he couldn't stop himself from staring at Naruto at the oddest times, or why he started to feel strange when Naruto was close or smiled at him.

He didn't understand a lot of things about this Naruto and the way he was making him feel. He didn't like it one bit either.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Naruto awoke groggily and frowned when he noticed that Sasuke wasn't next to him. Then he looked around and spotted the man sitting cross legged on the floor. The blond blinked in surprise when he realized Sasuke was meditating. Then he blinked again and blushed when he also noticed Sasuke was meditating in just a pair of pants. The blond tried to look around at something else but found that he couldn't help but look.

'_Well really, it's his own fault'_ Naruto couldn't help but think defensively as his eyes studied the bare skin. He couldn't help but eye the well muscled arms and shoulders enviously. He wasn't exactly scrawny himself, but thanks to his heritage he was always going to have a small stature. He had muscles yes, but had no where near the powerful figure that Sasuke had. _'As if being shorter then him isn't embarrassing enough. Talk about unfair.'_

Then he frowned when he noticed a few scars. There was one running down Sasuke's right shoulder blade, and then he noticed a few small ones crisscrossing here and there, including one on the man's left bicep. _'THOSE are new' _Naruto thought. Then he frowned even further when he saw a strange bruise at the base of Sasuke's neck. He leaned forward to get a better look and then nearly jumped when Sasuke spoke.

"Awake, I see."

Naruto blushed harder when Sasuke turned his head and looked at him. _'He probably knew I was awake the whole time_' the blond thought. "Uh...yeah. Sorry, were you trying to meditate?"

"Trying," Sasuke said. He then stood up and stretched; Naruto tried not to watch the man's muscles as he did this. Really. While he was not doing this, he asked, "So any plans for today?"

Sasuke blinked at him and then thought. "Well...not really. I just have to check up on the supply of food I ordered for the rest of the trip and make sure it'll be here tomorrow for when we leave, but other then that..."

Naruto grinned. "Great! Then I can go exploring!"

Sasuke frowned. "Naruto, I'm not sure that's such a great idea."

The blond pouted. "Aww, come on. We're in one of the biggest cities in Wind Country that is crawling with Shinobi and soldiers. You really think your brother or any of his friends would come after us HERE? I know he's probably crazy, but he's not stupid."

"I suppose...," Sasuke muttered; Naruto beamed at him. "But I'm coming with you."

Naruto blinked. "But..."

Sasuke glared at him. "You can always just stay here instead."

"Fine," Naruto said, with a sigh.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

'_Doesn't he ever slow down?' _Sasuke thought as he followed Naruto down yet another street. '_We have to have traveled half of Kaze by now!'_

After they took turns cleaning up and getting dressed, Sasuke went to the suppliers to make sure their food was going to be ready in time, and was pleased to find out it was. After that Naruto dragged him outside of the palace grounds and proceeded to look at everything it seemed. Sasuke forbade him from going into any bookstores (which Naruto pouted at him for) and so were going into whatever shop looked interesting to the blond. Since Naruto had never seen such a large variety of shops, this was basically every store.

The current one Naruto pulled him into was what appeared to be a flower shop of some kind.

"Wow. Look at all the flowers! Have you ever seen so many, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, looking around.

Sasuke didn't answer, because Naruto honestly didn't require an answer. When he was like this, Sasuke had to wonder sometimes if Naruto was really eighteen; at times like this, he seemed much younger. Oddly enough, Sasuke didn't find it annoying. It was almost endearing, the way Naruto found the smallest things that Sasuke often took for granted, fascinating.

He watched Naruto walk around the store eyeing the different and exotic flowers in fascination. In truth, he had seen lots of flowers like this before. His comrade, Ino, owned a flower shop that belonged to the family which she ran when she wasn't on missions. Every so often he was dragged over there for lunch by Sakura or one of his other peers who took it upon themselves to make him socialize.

"Can I help you?" a woman came up behind him

"We're just looking, thanks," Sasuke said quickly.

"Oh, I see," she said. Then she glanced over at Naruto, "Your friend seems to like flowers."

Sasuke shrugged.

"Are you two here for the festival?" the woman asked curiously.

Sasuke blinked and frowned _'ANOTHER one?_' This is what he got for traveling during festival season. "No."

"Festival?" Naruto appeared behind him suddenly. Sasuke sighed. _'Figures.'_

The woman smiled at him. "Yes; it's a local one that takes place here every year to celebrate the coming of Summer. Though really it's just an excuse to have fun to most people."

"That sounds great! Where is it?" Naruto asked excitedly before Sasuke could stop him.

"It's on our main road at the entrance. It'll be going until late tonight for the fireworks."

Naruto was practically bouncing by the time he heard about the fireworks. _'Oh brother, I know where this is going_' Sasuke thought to himself. "Thank you very much but I'm afraid we don't have time for a festival," he said quickly. "Come on, Naruto." He pulled the blond out of the store.

Unfortunately, Naruto didn't let it go. "Come ON, Sasuke! Don't be such a downer! It sounds like fun! Besides, you owe me for interrupting my last festival, remember?"

Sasuke tried ignoring the blond throughout his pleading. But Naruto was nothing if not persistent. The blond bugged him about the festival throughout their lunch (a place that served ramen thank God, which momentarily shut Naruto up as he ate his favorite dish), and throughout the afternoon. It got so Sasuke felt like going back to the flower shop and strangling the woman for even mentioning the damn festival. Fortunately for the woman, he didn't remember where the shop was when he felt this particular urge.

Finally, after dinner, he cracked. "If I take you to the festival, will you shut up about it?"

Naruto grinned in triumph. "Yes."

Sasuke sighed and said, "Fine. Lets go."

_'What did I do to deserve this?' _he thought as Naruto beamed and dragged him to their room to change.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Naruto had been impressed with Sand Villages' festival but he couldn't help but feel that Kaze City slightly out did them. This one was much bigger, and offered a much bigger variety of things to do. Not to mention, had better food including a stand that made ramen on the spot! It might have taken a bit to wait for his noodles, but still he was in heaven. Currently, he was slurping up his second bowl with Sasuke watching him nearby, a slight look of disgust on his face.

The blond paused and looked at his companion. "What?"

"Didn't you just have dinner? Wasn't that ramen too?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto tilted his head. "Yeah. So? You can never have too much ramen!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and Naruto went back to his eating.

The night was a big blur for Naruto after that. He went to the booths and won prizes for the kids like last time, and then explored as much as he could; all with Sasuke following silently like some dark brooding shadow. The blond glanced over his shoulder at his companion and sighed.

After last night, Naruto had hoped that Sasuke was finally loosening up. The man had actually smiled! Now granted, it was a small smile, but it was a smile nonetheless and had been enough to make him feel a little giddy at the sight even if he realized how silly it was to feel that way.

_'Maybe I can get him to smile again tonight'_ the blond thought to himself. _'But how could I?_' Then he noticed the booths and studied the prizes. _'Maybe he'd like a prize' _the blond thought, studying the trinkets critically. Unfortunately, none of the prizes seemed like the type of thing that Sasuke would even want, let alone like. He knew that Sasuke would detest any of the stuffed animals that he won the little children so those were out. The same went for the other little trinkets that were offered and most definitely for the sweets; Sasuke hated sweet things.

Then he spotted a prize booth that offered charms. '_Perfect! I can win him a good luck charm! That's useful! Sort of_.' Feeling a sense of determination, Naruto headed confidently over to the prize booth.

_**SasuNaru**_

Sasuke leaned against a tree waiting for Naruto to finish up his latest game. This one actually took the blond awhile to figure out apparently as he wasn't finished in less then a minute as usual. 'Wonder who this prize is for' he thought absentmindedly. He found the fact that Naruto gave away the prizes he won kind of endearing in an odd way.

But instead of giving it to some kid nearby Naruto surprised him by walking up to him instead and holding out his prize with a triumphant grin. "Here!"

Sasuke stared at him. "What?"

The blond rolled his eyes. "What do you mean, what? It's for you, dummy."

"Me?" Sasuke asked in surprise. Why on earth would Naruto bother to get him a prize? What on earth made Naruto think he WANTED a prize?

Naruto grinned and pressed the object into his hands. "Yup. It's a good luck charm!"

He looked at the object closely and realized that Naruto was right; it was a good luck charm. It was a small rectangle made of what appeared to be a dark wood of some kind that was painted white with kanji etched into it and written in black. There was a hole punched at the top and a red rope attached to it so it could be hung somewhere. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

Naruto sighed. "Keep it around for good luck, of course. You know for a Shinobi, you really are dumb sometimes."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but decided not to comment back; it was too easy. Then Naruto snapped his fingers. "Hey I know, you can put it on your sword!"

"What?"

The blond sighed impatiently and grabbed the charm before Sasuke could protest and then went to the side his sword was strapped too before he could stop him. Sasuke froze when Naruto leant in close and grabbed the swords handle and wrapped the charm's rope around it tightly. "There! Now you'll have it for whenever you go on those mission things, Shinobi are always going on." Naruto frowned, "You do go on those, right?"

Sasuke swallowed, "Yes."

"Great. Now you'll have some good luck for when you go," Naruto said. He started to say something else but was interrupted by a loud burst of light in the sky. They both turned and then Naruto grinned. "Hey, the fireworks are starting!" His attention was then focused on the sky for the rest of the night.

Sasuke sighed and glanced down at the charm now dangling from his sword. _'Really, whatever made him get me this?_' But he couldn't take it off the sword without inadvertedly hurting Naruto's feelings. But really, why on his sword anyway? Sure, it wasn't unheard of for warriors to carry trinkets or charms into battle but Sasuke had never been one for that. Looking at the charm, he couldn't help but be reminded of the ridiculous flower necklace Rock Lee always insisted on wearing on missions. The charm on the necklace had been a gift from Sakura, his girlfriend, and he had insisted on wearing it ever since. He just knew that if he went on a mission with any of his peers they would ask about it because they all knew about his feeling on things like charms. He could just picture the looks on their faces too as he explained it. Kiba would have a field day with this one.

He looked up at Naruto, now gazing in wonder at the brightly lit sky. _'Something tells me, you're going to make my life complicated even more complicated then it already was.'_

TO BE CONTINUED...

AUTHOR NOTES: I apologize for the long delay. The new semester started (MY LAST ONE) and then I got another plot bunny for a new SasuNaru fic and couldn't stop myself from at least figuring out some things for it so I could start it for whenever I feel the need to start a new fic. I try to only stick to writing two fics at a time because real life tends to take a good chunk of my writing time. I suspect it will get worse when I graduate. I WILL have the next chapter out sooner, I swear. I also will try to have actual plot in it too.


	18. Chapter 17

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

RATING: R to NC-17

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. Otherwise this wouldn't be called fanfiction and I would be making some money off of it; which I'm not.

PAIRING: SasuNaruSasu and many others

WARNINGS: see first/previous chapters and don't say Ididn't warn you.

AUTHOR NOTES: Sorry for massive delay, real life got in the way and then the school's internet service decided to shut down last week (grr). Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter (it was a pain to write) and please review!

CHAPTER 17:

_Two Weeks later and Two Days travel from the City of Konoha,_

Naruto squirmed impatiently on the top of his horse who snorted at him. _'God it's so BORING_' he thought, but didn't voice out loud because he knew Sasuke wouldn't appreciate it. The man would glare at him like the last few times he had mentioned the feeling. '_Why did I have to get stuck with the most non-sociable man on the planet?_' he thought mournfully. Naruto was a sociable creature by nature and having no one to talk too for these past two weeks except for Sasuke was starting to get to him.

He tried talking to Sasuke like he did with Iruka but it just didn't work. Sasuke would give simple monosyllabic answers, or simply not answer at all. Usually this was fine for Naruto, after getting the answers he wanted, or chatting to fill up the companionable silence the two of them often had, he could go and talk to other people or find other things to amuse himself. But the problem with being in the middle of a forest was that there was no one else to go and find. He was sorely missing his sensei right now.

Still, he had to admit it wasn't so bad traveling with Sasuke. The two of them had sort of reached an understanding in Kaze, and as they traveled together, that understanding grew. It was no where near the friendship the two once had but the two got along much better now and Naruto even felt comfortable enough to tease Sasuke like he used too. Still...a part of him was sad that it appeared that they would never have the old bond they shared. This new...thing...between them was different. He wasn't sure if Sasuke felt this odd new bond that was starting to form between them, but he sure as hell did and wasn't sure if he liked it or not.

To distract himself from thinking about it, Naruto decided to start a conversation. "Hey, Sasuke?"

Sasuke sighed, "Yes?"

"What's Konoha like?"

The man shrugged. "A lot like Kaze, actually; though it's a lot bigger."

"Do you know why it's called the 'the city hidden in the leaves'?" Naruto asked curiously.

Sasuke snorted. "It's hardly hidden as everyone knows where it is, but my guess would be because it's in a large valley and surrounded by forests."

"What are the people like?" Naruto pressed. He knew from experience that if you didn't keep Sasuke talking, he would just keep quiet.

"Pretty much like every other person around. However, since a majority of the population are Shinobi, there are quite a few eccentric ones."

"Like who?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "If I described all of them, you probably would be scared to set foot in the city. Lets just say that Kakashi is considered almost normal there."

Naruto's eyes widened. "No way."

"Hard to believe, huh?"

The blond nodded as he tried to imagine the people who could make Kakashi look normal. He wondered if everyone there wore masks over their mouths too...Needless to say, he was preoccupied with this until they went to make camp for the night.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Later that night as they made camp, Sasuke tended their fire and glanced over at Naruto, now sound asleep in his sleep mat. Since it was just the two of them, they decided to forego the tents for the rest of the trip since they just made more work anyway. He was currently on first watch and would be waking up Naruto in a few hours.

Naruto suddenly snorted in his sleep and rolled over, muttering, "More ramen, please."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that and then shook his head in slight amusement. '_At least some things about him haven't changed_,' he thought. One thing that had become more apparent to him in these past few weeks was just how much Naruto had grown up. Oh, there were still some immature parts about him that would likely always be there, but Naruto had grown up. Unlike his younger self, he realized when Sasuke needed to be left alone with his thoughts. Of course, that didn't stop him from babbling constantly still, but he did that mostly to fill silence and honestly didn't expect Sasuke to talk back. Though he couldn't help but wonder if Naruto realized his babble gave away his maturity; probably not, knowing him.

Despite appearances, Sasuke did actually listen to Naruto's babble and found it not only pleasant to listen too (strangely enough) but very informative at times. The blond babbled about anything that came to his mind at the time. Sometimes he informed Sasuke about what had been going on in Wind Palace since he'd been gone; other times it was observations about mutual people that they knew; and sometimes he told Sasuke about the various things he learned about from his precious books. It was an interesting insight to the blond's mind and personality and Sasuke found himself more and more interested in hearing Naruto's opinions and tales. He even found himself encouraging Naruto to talk by asking things.

He was, for the first time in a long while, actually ENJOYING someone's companionship. It was an odd feeling, and he wasn't quite sure what to make of it, or the odd stirrings in his chest when Naruto smiled at him or was close. What he did know was that he wasn't dreading this union as much as he had at first; in fact, he found himself liking the idea of having an excuse to be near Naruto more and more. He frowned over at the man, _'I knew you were going to make things more complicated...'_

_**SasuNaru**_

Sasuke sighed as he watched Naruto count out all his books. "I'm sure they're all there, Dobe."

Naruto stuck out his tongue at the nickname. "No! I'm missing one! I know it!"

Glancing at the pile, he couldn't help but wonder how the blond could tell, but kept silent. "We're wasting time."

"Oh relax, would you?" Naruto said, studying his pile of books. "We'll be in Konoha soon."

Sasuke started to reply but then froze when he felt a familiar chakra nearby; then just as he was about to shout out a warning to Naruto, he saw something whiz by and head straight for the blond. Without even thinking he ran forward and tackled the other to the ground, shielding him with his body. He grimaced when something sharp pierced his back, but otherwise made no sound; he didn't want to give Itachi the satisfaction.

"Hey, what's going on?" Naruto said from under him. "What'd you push me for?" Then he gasped and Sasuke knew he saw the wound. "Sasuke?" he asked, in a small voice.

He tried to smile reassuringly at the blond and slowly got up. "I'm all right; it's not that serious." All right, so it was a bald faced lie. With any luck, he could get Naruto to escape this place before he passed out from the blood loss.

Judging from his frown, Naruto didn't believe him one bit. But before the blond could say anything, Itachi decided to show himself. Sasuke quickly got in front of Naruto, or as quickly as he could move with a kunai knife jutting out of his shoulder blade anyway. He heard Naruto suck in his breath sharply and winced because now the blond had a good view of all the blood that he felt pouring down his back.

"That was quite careless of you, little brother," Itachi said, looking down at the two of them from a tree branch. "I thought you had better sense then to get in front of a kunai, or at least knew how to dodge one properly."

"Shut up," Sasuke gritted out; trying to push down the sense of helplessness as he tried to think of a way to get Naruto and himself to safety with himself injured. Unfortunately, dealing with the pain from the wound at the same time, made it quite hard to do so. Then to his horror, he started to lose focus. _'Damn it! I should be stronger then this!_' Then he sniffed the air and frowned when he smelled the poison that was no doubt coming from the tip of the knife. If it was the poison he was thinking of, it wasn't lethal, but it quickly made a person lose consciousness no matter how much they tried to resist. It was a good one to use when you wanted to get an opponent out of the way quickly.

He glared up at his so-called brother, "Poison? Sinking a little low aren't we?" Behind him he heard Naruto say in alarm, "Poison?!"

Itachi shrugged nonchalantly, "I don't feel like killing you just yet, little brother, but you would no doubt force me too right now when all I want to do is talk with little Naruto here."

"Like hell I'll talk to you, bastard!" Naruto burst out behind him. Had he not been fighting to stay awake, Sasuke would have smiled a little at that.

Itachi looked disdainfully down at the blond. "Must you be so loud? You don't even know what it is I want to talk to you about."

"Whatever it is, I'm not interested," Naruto said firmly.

Itachi smirked, "You assume I'm going to give you a choice on the matter."

Sasuke drew out his sword. "You're assuming I'm going to even let you have the chance to talk to him."

His brother shook his head. "Still so stubborn even when you're about to lose consciousness. You haven't changed a bit."

As much as he hated to admit it, Itachi was right. His vision was once again starting to blacken and his grip on his sword wasn't as firm as it should have been. '_Damn it! I can't just let him harm Naruto!_' he thought as he felt his body give out and inwardly cursed whoever came up with the poison currently invading his body.

Naruto's worried voice and blue eyes were the last thing he saw and heard as he blacked out.

_**SasuNaru**_

Naruto hurried to Sasuke's side the minute the man collapsed and felt the beginnings of panic well up. '_What now? What am I supposed to do?_' A million ideas whirled around his brain as he tried to think up a way to get them both to safety.

"Well, now we can finally get down to business," Itachi said and Naruto blinked when he jumped to the ground. The blond grabbed the sword Sasuke had dropped, got in front of the unconscious man, and held it confidently in front of him.

"Stay back!" he spat out.

Unfortunately it didn't have the effect he had hoped; Itachi merely looked at him in amusement. "Just what do you think you're going to do with that, boy?"

"Make sure you don't hurt Sasuke again," Naruto said.

Itachi rolled his eyes, "I have no interest in my little brother right now. Now the one I wish to speak with is you; haven't I been saying that?"

"What do you want?" Naruto asked cautiously. '_Maybe if I just let him speak, he'll let us go. Doubtful, but worth a shot.'_

"Boy, do you have any idea what exactly you are?" Itachi asked, catching him by surprise.

Naruto looked at him confusedly. "A Carrier?"

Itachi sighed, "Yes, you're that; meaning you're a half demon. Don't you realize what that means?"

Naruto shook his head, looking at him warily.

"I suppose you wouldn't. Those old fools at the palace never did realize what power they had at their fingertips. You are the only son of the nine-tail fox demon Kyuubi, therefore, you inherited her power as well as the power of your father, Lord Arashi from the Fire Kingdom. I wager with some proper training you'd be quite the opponent."

Naruto stared at him. _'What? How does he know who my parents are? Iruka-sensei didn't even know where I came from!_' "How do you know this?" he demanded.

Itachi shrugged. "When I first met you at the palace while visiting Sasuke, I became intrigued by the Chakra levels you kept producing without realizing it. I did some digging around and the council has your complete record in the palace archives; not to mention lousy security."

He frowned at Itachi. "If this is true, then why are you so interested?"

"In a few months, this country is going to be thrown into a war," Itachi said bluntly. "Konoha and the four countries are going to be under new leadership and run by powerful men and women. I'm offering you a chance to be one of those people in power."

Naruto stared at him. "What?"

"Come on. Aren't you tired of the way you're treated? You have no say in your destiny; your life more or less belongs to my brother now, and I'm sure you of all people know what a difficult person he is to live with. With all that potential of yours it is quite a waste, don't you agree?"

The blond snorted. "I suppose you want to use my 'potential' is that it? Well, forget it. I'd rather die then fight along side you."

Itachi smirked. "Again, you assume I'm giving you a choice on the matter." Suddenly he charged straight at Naruto, who barely managed to deflect his attack in time. Itachi raised an eyebrow when he was pushed back by Chakra and then charged forward again.

Naruto frantically dodged and deflected his blows, trying to keep Itachi from the unconscious Sasuke as well as trying to stay alive; all the while forming a plan of escape in his mind.

Itachi paused in his attacks to study the blond in what Naruto thought was slight surprise. "You've been trained in combat."

The blond smirked. "Of course. You forget who Iruka-Sensei was before he became my guardian. I'm not just trained in combat either." He then let out a series of whistles and Chidori and his horse both suddenly broke into a run. Being Shinobi-trained horses they would head towards Konoha like they had been trained to do. Sasuke had taught him the whistle earlier just in case of emergencies like this. Itachi watched the horses run off with a raised eyebrow and by the time he looked back at Naruto, the blond had knelt beside Sasuke and had started making hand gestures.

Itachi's eyes widened and he started to run towards the blond but he was too late. Wind started to swirl around the two figures and powerful Chakra blocked him from going further. The man stared in shock (or as much shock as he allowed to show on his face) as symbols started to appear on the ground and a shadow appeared under the blond and his brother and then grew and morphed into a towering figure lifting the two of them high above the forest treetops. When the wind finally cleared the two of them were on top of a humongous brown toad.

The toad glanced around the forest in confusion. "Hmm? What the hell am I doing here? Naruto, you brat! This is your doing isn't it? Where are you?"

Naruto, though a little winded from the Summoning Jutsu, couldn't help but smile. "Hey, Gamabunto, I'm up here."

Gamabunto scowled. "Brat, what have I told you about summoning me? Who's that with you? I don't give free rides! You're bad enough!"

The blond sighed. "I know, but this is an emergency! Sasuke needs to get to a hospital! Do you know the way to Konoha?"

"Yeah, sure. Hey, who's that down there?"

Naruto blinked and glanced down to see Itachi staring up at the two of them through the trees with an unreadable expression on his face. '_Why isn't he attacking?_' the blond thought curiously but decided not to knock it. "Never mind. Go!"

"Since you're obviously worried about your little boyfriend I'll take that as a request," Gamabunto grumbled and then with one giant leap was miles away from where they were. Naruto used Chakra to ground himself and Sasuke and on the way worked on Sasuke's wound as best he could. He got the kunai knife out of his shoulder, and used parts of his tunic to block the blood that started to pour out; unfortunately he only had the basic knowledge of healing and limited sources so his best hope was that they got to the hospital before the would got too serious. In the back of his mind he wondered why Itachi didn't just follow and attack on the way but decided not to dwell on it and be thankful.

He looked down at Sasuke's head, now resting his lap and huddled protectively over the man's form. "You'll be alright, Sasuke. I promise," he murmured softly, pushing back black strands of hair gently.

An hour into their journey, Gamabunto finally spoke directly to him, "This Sasuke wouldn't happen to be the same Sasuke Uchiha you wouldn't shut up about earlier would it?"

Naruto had the grace to blush as he remembered the rants he got into about his friend in the early days of his absance. "Yes," he said; then glanced down at the for once peaceful face. "And no. It's a bit complicated."

Gamabunto snorted. "Things usually are with you humans. I don't even want to know what you're doing this far out of Wind Country. Probably causing trouble again."

The blond smiled a little. "I missed you too, Gambato," he said teasingly, knowing it would make the proud toad grumble even more.

"Shut up."

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Kiba Inuzuka hated patrol. It was an annoying pain on his side and boring to boot. He was someone who craved action and hated silence so it was really no wonder why this was his most hated part of being a Shinobi.

"Will you stop fidgeting?" Shino Aburame asked from the post next to his.

"But I'm bored!" he said, not caring if it sounded like he was whining. If he cared about his dignity he would have stopped hanging out with his friends a long time ago.

"I swear, you're three years old sometimes," his glass wearing friend muttered.

Akamaru's sudden barking saved Shino from his reply. "What is it, boy?" the brown haired man said, suddenly sounding more like the trained Shinobi he was.

"Something's out there," Shino muttered, looking over the tall wall they were on top of into the surrounding forest area. The two of them peered over the wall and Kiba then felt it: an enormous Chakra signal heading straight for them.

He let out a low whistle. "That's some power. You think it's Uchiha? He's supposed to be coming here with that fiancé of his in a few days right?"

Shino frowned. "Uchiha's never given off this kind of Chakra before...it's different from his. It's almost like Gaara's..."

"That's because it's Uchiha's fiancé," a voice came from behind them and Kiba jumped and glared at Neji Hyuuga.

"Don't DO that!" he said. Neji just looked at him disdainfully and looked out at the forest. '_Arrogant ass,' _he thought. '_I still can't believe he and Hinata are related_.'

"What makes you say that?" Shino asked Neji, also ignoring Kiba.

"Gaara gives off a different Chakra signal because of his demon genes...this one is similar to that. So it's either him, or another half-demon, but I don't know of any others that would have reason to come to Konoha."

Kiba then saw a black speck in the distance and frowned. "Hey, check it out."

The three Shinobi turned and stared as the black speck became larger and seemed to be..."Is that thing hopping?" Kiba asked in confusion.

By then the three of them had been joined by Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Rock Lee who had also been on patrol duty and Shikamaru frowned. "Looks like it. What the hell is it?"

They watched in fascination as the speck came closer and more visible when Ino suddenly gasped. "Holy crap, that's a giant frog!"

"Giant toad, actually," Shikamaru corrected her and his girlfriend stuck out her tongue at him.

"Man, I hate frogs," Kiba muttered.

"Toad."

"Whatever," he said, glaring at Shikamaru.

"How does one go about fighting a giant toad?" Lee wondered out loud.

"I don't think it's here to fight, Lee," Neji said.

"Thank God," Ino muttered. Then she frowned when she noticed two figures on top of the toad's head as it came closer and more visable. "Hey, is that Sasuke?!"

They all looked and sure enough, one of the figures was their comrade.

"Injured again. Figures. Can't that guy ever stay out of the hospital?" Shikamauru muttered to himself.

"I guess the blond must be the Carrier," Kiba said, marveling at the bright hair.

"Gaara's sister said his name was Naruto in her letter," Neji said.

Kiba blinked, "He's named after food? Nice."

"Actually, I believe it means something different in the demon culture," Neji replied.

Shikamaru snorted. "Whatever he's called, he looks even more troublesome then Uchiha is."

No one in the group replied but Kiba had a feeling they were all silently agreeing with him. He looked at the figure on the giant toad, _'Something tells me things are about to get more interesting around here.'_

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Itachi watched from a safe distance as the giant toad landed in front of the gates of Konoha

"You let the brat escape awful quickly," Kisame said, appearing behind him.

Itachi shrugged. "I told him what I wanted. Now all I have to do is wait for him to grow bored in that city."

"What makes you think he will?"

"He's part demon. It's in his nature to be restless. The more my brother tries to control him, the more he'll rebel. Soon he'll grow tired of being protected and leave the city and when he does, he'll be mine."

"If you say so," Kisame said, his voice doubtful.

Itachi chose to ignore the doubt. The man did not see how his brother interacted with the blond when they were younger or been watching the blond closely over the last few years. All he needed to do was wait for the two to clash again and then he could take the blond's power; willingly or not.

END PART I

TO BE CONTINUED...

AUTHOR NOTES: Finally done. I meant to have this out about two weeks earlier but schoolwork got in the way (five weeks until college graduation!) Plus writing action scenes always takes me a little longer then usual anyway because it's not my forte.

NOTE ON FIC: I've decided that this fic is going to broken up into three parts. The first part was obviously their journey to Konoha as well as trying to get to know one another again. The second part will consist of mostly life in Konoha as well as more developments on what Itachi was talking about, and then hopefully part three will tie everything (including their relationship) up. It will still be all archived as one fic so as not to confuse anybody. Each part will average from fifteen to twenty chapters depending on how things go for each which was why I was thinking it was going to be fifty plus chapters. So God knows when this thing is going to be done. I just realized it's been almost a year since I've started this already.


	19. Part II: Prologue

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

RATING: R to NC-17

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters and am (sadly) making no money off of this whatsoever.

PAIRINGS: SasuNaruSasu, for others see first part...

AUTHOR NOTES: Now onto Part II! Thank you all to have reviewed and have not sent the mob after me for not updating all these months...

PART II: PROLOGUE

_City of Konoha, Hospital_,

If Iruka could see his charge then, Naruto strongly suspected he'd faint, or at least demand to know what was wrong with him. The blond was sitting perfectly still. If that wasn't enough; he was perfectly silent as well. He looked down at the man laying on the bed in front of him and smiled ruefully; Sasuke would also probably be shocked to see him like this.

It had always been a childhood dream of his to visit the famed city of Konoha. When he was younger and still naive enough to think he could escape his fate, he would daydream about running away from Wind Palace and come here to become a Shinobi and go out and be a big hero. After he met Sasuke, the dreams changed to include his best friend being impressed by him or the two of them working alongside each other. He couldn't help but find it ironic that now he was finally here in the city of his dreams and wasn't happy.

_'This is all Itachi Uchiha's fault_' he thought with a slight scowl. If he didn't hate Sasuke's brother beforehand (and he certainly had held no fondness for the elder Uchiha) he certainly did now. It was probably childish of him to hate the man for injuring Sasuke and revealing his heritage to him but he decided not to care.

'_How the hell does he know all that stuff about me? Is it even true?' _he wondered to himself. He had naturally always wondered about his birth parents and where he came from but Iruka always said he wasn't sure and that he had found Naruto crying next to a dead fox demon woman in the woods. Apparently the king had found out who he was, though he had never told Iruka the whole story, other then his name. '_I should have made the old man tell me before I left._' But he had been so confused and angry then that he didn't think about it. '_Stupid!_'

Though he tried to focus on that, his mind kept wandering back to what Itachi had said about his power. '_Am I really that strong?_' he thought curiously staring down at his hands. As much as he hated to admit it, the thought was appealing. '_I could be stronger then Sasuke!_' he thought and couldn't help but smirk at how much that knowledge would probably irritate the hell out of the arrogant man.

Then he frowned as he remembered what the man had mentioned about the war. _'I'm going to have to tell Sasuke when he wakes up.' _He would have told the Shinobi he ran into earlier at the front gate but then he had been too concerned with getting Sasuke's injuries looked at and besides that, he wasn't even sure if they would believe him. He was, after all, a mere Carrier. Though he was surprised when the strange man with the markings under his eyes didn't even ask his name; just pulled Sasuke immediately onto his large dog and ran to the hospital. Then another strange man with dark glasses led him to the hospital after he told Gamabunta thank you and the toad disappeared. He had been too worried to really pay attention to any names so he didn't know theirs. After a few hours of waiting, a pink haired girl had come out and led him to Sasuke's room where he was told the man would be fine after a month or two of rest.

So here he was waiting for the man to wake up and replaying the conversation with Itachi over and over again in his head. He looked down at the man on the bed again and sighed. A knock came from the door and Naruto looked up to see the pink haired girl again. "Hi," she said with a smile. "Hope you don't mind. I need to check him."

Naruto nodded slowly. "Sure." He watched curiously as the girl checked Sasuke over.

"You're Naruto, aren't you?" she asked suddenly, looking at him.

He blinked. "Um...yes."

She smiled. "Sasuke's mentioned you before and we all heard about you from Temari's letter."

"Oh. Are you a friend of Sasuke's?" he asked, starting to feel shy. He wasn't used to talking to girls as there weren't many in Wind Palace. Plus, this girl was quite pretty. The pink hair was a little odd but it was helped with pretty turquoise eyes and a welcoming smile.

She sighed. "Well, I'm sure he'd deny it, but I suppose you could call us friends. I'm Sakura Haruno." She held out her hand.

"Naruto Uzumaki," he said even though it was pretty obvious that she knew he was.

"Well, Naruto, Sasuke should be waking up soon. In the meantime, would you like something to eat?" she asked.. "I'm afraid all I can offer you at the moment is hospital food, but hey, it's better then nothing."

He started to say he wasn't hungry but then his stomach growled. "Uh...sure, that would be great."

Sakura smiled. "I'll be right back."

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

_...Ten year old Sasuke paused in his training with Kakashi when he heard his name being called. With a frown, he looked at his blond friend who was headed toward them. "Naruto, I'm busy now."_

_Naruto shrugged. "I know, but the old man told me to get you and bring you to the great hall; you have guests."_

_Sasuke blinked. "I wasn't expecting anyone."_

_"Nevertheless, it's rude to keep guests waiting," Kakashi said, ushering them to the palace. Then he noticed the incredulous looks both boys were giving him. "What?"_

_"Idiot Sensei," Sasuke muttered under his breath. Naruto heard him and snickered and he smiled a little to himself. He liked making Naruto laugh._

_When the three of them walked into the throne room Sasuke blinked when he saw his family. "Mother? Father? What are you two doing here?"_

_His mother smiled at him as they hugged. "We can't come visit our son?"_

_"We had some business here anyway," his father answered his questioning look. "Your brother is out in the stables and says he'll see you at dinner."_

_"Brother wasn't too busy to come?" Sasuke said in surprise. He looked up to his brother but the man was always so busy and never seemed to have time for him. Maybe now he could show his brother what he had learned!_

_"Only after we dragged him away from his training," his mother muttered. _

_"That's no easy feat," Kakashi said coming up to them. _

_"Kakashi," his father nodded at his sensei. "How's Sasuke's training going? I assume you're not corrupting my son?"_

_"It's going very well and your son is far too stubborn to corrupt," Kakashi answered. Sasuke rolled his eyes and then glanced back at Naruto who was hanging back for some reason. He frowned; it wasn't like Naruto to be shy. Walking back to his friend, he pushed Naruto forward._

_"Father, Mother, this is Naruto Uzumaki. The friend I've been telling you about," he said and smiled at Naruto._

_Naruto looked up at the two adults and said quietly, "It's nice to meet you."_

_Sasuke's mother knelt down and smiled at the boy. "It's nice to finally meet you too, Naruto. I trust you're keeping Sasuke from working too hard for me?"_

_Sasuke snorted while Naruto grinned. "Yup."_

_Naruto quickly got over his shyness as the two boys showed Sasuke's parents around Wind Palace for the rest of the day. Sasuke could already tell that his mother found Naruto adorable and had told Sasuke to see if they could arrange it so Naruto could come with him for his next visit home. They both knew that because of the old laws Naruto wouldn't be able to go, but he and Naruto indulged the woman anyway. _

_At dinner Sasuke finally met up with his brother who coolly nodded at him and was silent throughout his talk of his training. Sasuke was a bit disappointed but didn't dwell on it. For some reason though, Naruto seemed uncomfortable around his brother. The blond squirmed whenever Itachi glanced at him and practically hid behind Sasuke when his brother asked the boy a direct question. It irritated Sasuke a bit, to tell the truth. Sure, Itachi was a bit...standoffish, and at times intimidating, but surely Naruto wasn't afraid of him? He wasn't scared of Sasuke, so why would he be scared of his brother? _

_Later that night, after dinner, Sasuke went off in search of his friend to ask that question. He found Naruto buy the pond in the back of the castle and sat next to him. Naruto smiled at him. "Your parents are nice. I really like them."_

_"Hn," Sasuke grunted. Most people did like his parents after meeting them. It was the kind of people they were; though most tended to like his mother more, as his father was as quiet and reserved as his two sons were. He then looked at Naruto accusingly, "You didn't seem to like Itachi much, though."_

_The blond boy shifted. "It's not that I didn't like him...he was just...kind of scary."_

_Sasuke stared. "Scary? Itachi isn't scary."_

_Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. _

_"Okay, maybe he's a little intense but that's just the way he is. He's a great warrior though. Some say he's even as good, if not better then Kakashi-Sensei!"_

_"He's still scary," Naruto muttered. "He looks at me weird."_

_"He does not," Sasuke defended his brother. "You're imagining things."_

_"I am not!"_

_"Are too. Itachi's my brother; you can't say mean things about him."_

_Naruto sighed and muttered, "Fine." _

_Feeling slightly bad, Sasuke said, "Don't worry. You'll get used to Itachi. He's really very cool. I'm going to grow up to be just like him."_

_Naruto looked at him with a frown. "Why? I like you just the way you are."_

_Sasuke sighed and shook his head. Naruto just didn't understand what a great warrior his brother was. "Never mind. Come on, lets go see if there's still some food left in the kitchens."_

_Naruto's face lit up at the suggestion and the boys quickly put the conversation behind them..._

...Black eyes slowly fluttered open and Sasuke frowned. He knew exactly where he was; he'd woken up here more then in his own home it seemed. _'But how did I get to Konoha Hospital?_' he thought in confusion.

A loud snore caught his attention and he turned his head (slowly, because he found that quick movements after a severe injury usually hurt) and saw a sleeping Naruto. The blond was sitting in a chair next to the bed he was laying in with his head pillowed into his arms which were resting on the edges of the mattress near Sasuke's hand.

Sasuke scanned the blond as best he could and was shocked to find not a scratch on him. But then he remembered that Naruto had always healed rather quickly; it was a trait all Carriers had. So if he'd been asleep for awhile, which Sasuke suspected was the case, any injuries the blond might have gotten from Itachi would've disappeared by now. _'That must be it.'_

"Oh, you're awake," a voice said from the door and he glanced over to see Sakura looking at him with a smile. He nodded at her.

"Sakura."

"You just can't stay out of the hospital, can you Sasuke?" the girl joked as she came up to his bedside.

"I do try," he said blandly. For some reason, his comrades seemed to think he ENJOYED these regular visits to the hospital. Was it his fault he tended to make enemies out for his blood on these missions?

Sakura smiled and shook her head. "Well, the good news is, you won't be staying for long. We managed to get the poison completely out of your system in time. The wound will take awhile to heal though so that means NO MISSIONS for at least a month, all right?" She looked at him sternly.

He nodded, but both knew he would most likely ignore the order if something came up. It was the way he was and it drove Sakura up the wall. A small part of him did to annoy her to tell the truth. The girl was very entertaining when she was angry; much more so then when she was her normal cheerful self.

"How did I get here?" he asked.

"He brought you," Sakura said, nodding at the slumbering blond. "I wasn't there but Ino said he arrived in the front of the village gates on top of a giant toad and demanded that you be brought to the hospital."

Sasuke blinked and glanced at Naruto. _'Giant toad? What the hell?' _He looked at Sakura, "Are you sure Ino wasn't making that up?"

"Shino and Shikamaru confirmed it along with Kiba."

Sasuke frowned._ 'It must have been a summons. How the hell does he know how do THAT?'_

"He's all right?" Sasuke asked, nodding at the blond.

Sakura nodded. "He's been staying by your side since you arrived two days ago. The only reason he's sleeping now though is because I kind of slipped something in his food." She had the grace to look a little sheepish at the admission.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Sakura?"

The girl huffed in annoyance, "Well he was refusing to leave and fighting to stay awake. Not sleeping isn't healthy! I practically had to drag him to get some food. That boy is really stubborn, you know."

He snorted. "Believe me, I know."

Sakura sighed, "Well I have to get going. My shift is almost over and I still have rounds to make. It's good to have you back, Sasuke," she gave a cheerful wave and left the room.

Sasuke watched her go and then turned his attention back to Naruto. _'Just how the hell did he get away from Itachi without a scratch?' _He and Naruto were definitely going to have to have a little talk when he got up.

TO BE CONTINUED...

WHY THERE WAS A LONG HIATUS aka Excuseville:

1) After the last chapter was written finals time started. I was swamped with projects and tests and then after was graduation. Yes, I am officially a college graduate. Took me long enough, eh?

2) After graduation was a family trip to California which was a blast. I finally got to go to Disneyland. Only bummer was that I found out too late that we came a week ahead of Anime Expo. We were staying with my aunt and uncle who live ONE BLOCK from the Long Beach convention center...it would have been perfect. Ah, maybe next year I can invite myself over...

3) After THAT I was caught up in searching for a job. I finally found something in August that isn't great but hey, it's income until I figure out what I want to do with this damn degree...I should've gone into business or something...except that bores me to tears.

4) There was some writers block...okay, a lot and I couldn't decided how to start part II. This chapter/prologue was written at least five times.

But I now plan on updating at least once every other week or so from now on which means no more five month hiatus's (is that a word???).


	20. Part II: Chapter 1

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

RATING: R to NC-17

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters therefore I am not making any money off of this. I do however own this plot, if that's a good thing...

PAIRINGS: SasuNaruSasu, as well as others; for complete listing see first chapter.

SUMMARY OF PART II: Naruto and Sasuke have arrived in Konoha and go through with their duty. That doesn't make their relationship any easier though as war slowly starts to brew and they have to adjust to each other and their new life as well as emerging feelings...

AUTHORS NOTE: We are now in full swing. Thank you all for the encouragement and congratulations, it was much appreciated.

PART II, CHAPTER 1:

_Four days later, Streets of Konoha City,_

Sasuke never did get his chance to have a talk with Naruto. As soon as word got out that the Uchiha had returned all his comrades, annoying creatures that they were, turned up to see him and inspect his new fiancé. Ino and Hinata immediately fell in love with Naruto and so he got their stamp of approval. Kiba found a kindred spirit as he found that Naruto enjoyed pranks as much as he did and (much to his dismay) the two started trading secrets almost the minute they met. Sasuke had a feeling that Konoha was going to be a lot more chaotic in the future.

Shino didn't say much but then he rarely did; Lee came in a little after and said something about how the two of them had great energy going and then left to go find Sakura (he took that to mean that Lee approved). Shikamaru and Chouji both seemed to find the blond amusing when they came in to fill Sasuke in on all the things in Konoha that he had missed.

All of these visits took place within a three day span and each one made him tired much to his chagrin so he usually fell asleep right away afterwards. He always awoke to Naruto sitting by him either reading or napping as well. Before he could start to get around to asking the blond what had happened they would be interrupted by medic nins or guests. It was rather frustrating actually. By the end of the third day Sakura finally gave in to Sasuke and said he was free to leave as he could walk around, even if it was slowly. She didn't really have much of a choice anyway, Sasuke had been summoned to Headquarters along with Naruto so he had to go. After muttering about stubborn shinobi who ignore their health, Sakura wrote him a clean bill of health and he left with Naruto to go to headquarters.

As Sasuke slowly made his way through the crowded streets of Konoha Naruto looked at him in concern. "Should you be walking? Maybe we should get a carriage or something."

Sasuke sighed. Naruto had been fretting over him almost as bad as Sakura at her worst mother hen moments. "I'll be fine. You won't find carriages here anyway, this is the walking district. No wheeled things allowed."

Naruto blinked and glanced around, noticing for the first time, the narrow street and the gray brick that lined it. "Oh. Why are we in the walking district, though?"

"If we just follow this street it'll go to the center of the city and that's where headquarters are. All the walking roads lead to the center of the city."

"Huh," Naruto said. As he walked the blond realized that Sasuke was right. The street they were on, which was lined with businesses and shops of all kinds, seemed to lead up a hill where he could see tall structures bunched together in a circle. As they walked he saw that there were connecting streets leading to other areas of the city were he saw carriages and people on horses go through.

The two of them finally reached the end of the road a few minutes later. It opened up into a large circular brick square with buildings all around it. In the center of the square was a large fountain with a statue showing four people grouped together. Seeing Naruto looking at them curiously, Sasuke said, "Those are the four founders of Konoha. Legend says there was one from each country who decided to form the city as a safe haven for people from all the lands."

"Really?"

Sasuke shrugged, "There's a lot of argument about how Konoha was formed. No one can really say how; it was so long ago."

"The city's really that old?"

Sasuke nodded and then pointed to a large circular building across from them. "There's the Shinobi headquarters."

He led Naruto into the building and walked up to a shinobi behind the front desk area. "Sasuke Uchiha, reporting for summons."

"Oh, yes," the man said. Then in a strange tone he said, "You're to go to the top floor immediately."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. The top floor was reserved for important guests who came to the Shinobi for help or very important meetings among the top officials. He himself had never actually been up there. _'Just who the hell sent for us?'_ Trusting Naruto to follow he headed up the stairs.

_**SasuNaru**_

_'Who the hell made this building so damn tall?' _Naruto thought in irritation. _'And don't these people know Sasuke is injured?! He shouldn't be walking the stairs like this! Sakura told him to take it easy!'_

He looked at Sasuke in concern but the man didn't seem to be phased by all the staircases. He was breathing a little heavily though and that made Naruto worry. But before he could say what he'd been thinking (which was, to hell with whoever summoned us, they can come down the stairs and see us) they reached the last flight of stairs.

"You okay?" he asked Sasuke as the man lent against the wall for bit. Sasuke gave him an exasperated look.

"I'm fine."

Naruto highly doubted that but Sasuke didn't seem to like it when he fussed so the blond didn't say anything. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to tell off whoever had the nerve to call the two of them up here.

After a minute or two of rest they walked through the doors and found themselves in a large entrance with marble flooring and glass windows looking out onto the scenery around the building. A woman stood near the doors; she had short black hair and black eyes and wore a black shinobi uniform similar to Sasuke's and standing beside her was, of all things, a pig.

Naruto stared in bemusement at the pig while Sasuke immediately gave a short bow. "Lady Shizune."

The woman nodded. "Uchiha, nice to have you back. I take it this is Naruto Uzumaki?"

Naruto started when the woman stared at him. Sasuke nodded and nudged him. He looked at Sasuke, "What?"

"Bow, you idiot," he hissed. "She's the head of the shinobi here in Konoha."

Naruto blinked in surprise and then immediately bowed. "S-Sorry."

She smiled. "It's all right. I was warned that you don't know much about our ways here in the city."

Naruto blinked. "Warned? By who?"

"You'll see."

He blinked and looked at Sasuke who shrugged at him and looked at the woman. "Lady Shizune, are you the one that summoned us?"

"No. You're reporting to someone much higher up then me today," she said. "They're waiting for you both in the meeting hall on the first door to your left."

Sasuke frowned and nodded and he and Naruto went through the first set of double doors that she indicated.

The room they entered was a medium sized room with a large ornate desk in the center behind which sat a woman with blond hair and amber eyes wearing a gold circlet around her head with a blue stone in the center. Standing beside her was a man with long wild white hair and black eyes.

Naruto's eyes widened in recognition. "Pervy sage?! Old hag?! What are you two doing here?!"

Sasuke blinked. "Naruto, that's no way to address the King and Queen of Fire Country!"

"WHAT?!" Naruto stared at him like he was crazy.

"We did tell you we were important people, brat," Queen Tsunade said with a smirk.

"I thought you were just the usual arrogant nobles that always visit the old man!"

"Excuse me, we have more class then those idiots," Jiraiya said.

Naruto snorted and muttered, "Says the guy who peeks into woman's baths."

Tsunade frowned and looked at her husband and said in a dangerous tone, "Woman's baths?"

The man blanched, "Uh, it was a misunderstanding dear..."

"I'll bet," Tsunade muttered.

Sasuke looked at the three of them in confusion. "You three have met?"

Naruto blinked. "Oh yeah, you had already left when these two came to Wind Palace."

"Yes, Uchiha; we've met," Tsunade said. "Now, on to the reason you're here. Officials from Wind country will be arriving tomorrow to oversee the ceremony. Therefore it will take place tomorrow evening."

"It?" Sasuke and Naruto in unison.

"The wedding ceremony, of course," Tsunade said, rolling her eyes.

The two fell silent. Not taking notice, the queen continued, "Now obviously given the situation you're not expected to have heirs right away, so you don't have to worry about that for some time. However, we DO expect you to have some. Are we clear?"

The two of them nodded. "Good. Now then, Naruto if you would step out please; I have some things to discuss with Uchiha."

Naruto frowned, "Why can't I stay?"

"It's Shinobi business."

Naruto started to protest but Jiraiya stepped forward, "Come on, brat. You can catch me up on what you've been up too."

Seeing he had no choice, the blond followed him.

_**SasuNaru**_

Sasuke stared at the queen as Naruto and the king slowly left the room. He wasn't sure what this was about and he had no clue what to think about Naruto actually knowing the king and queen...and from the way the three interacted he knew them well. Hell, Queen Tsunade had an almost fond look on her face when the blond had called her old hag. Most people would have been punched by then. He was also confused as to why the queen was here to begin with.

"Your highness, not to be rude, but shouldn't you be at the palace?" Sasuke asked cautiously.

The queen's face turned somber. "We were attacked."

"So what Haku and Zabuza said about Orochimaru..."

"Was correct, yes. Though he sent his little henchman, Kabuto to do it instead of facing us all himself of course. The palace wasn't ready for it; we were all scattered. Jiraiya and myself managed to get here just in the nick of time."

Sasuke hesitated, "Kakashi Sensei and a man named Iruka Umino were supposed to be going to the palace along Zabuza and Haku...did something happen to them?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know," the queen said apologetically. "Zabaza and Haku are here and both fine, though Haku was heavily injured and may stay that way if Zabuza continues to snarl at the nurses that come near the two of them."

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk at that. The man might act unemotional, but he was extremely protective of his partner. He was notorious for it, in fact.

"As for Hatake and Umino, we got seperated from them a little ways ago. They may turn up in a few days."

"But you don't know for sure if they're all right," Sasuke said with a frown.

"I'm afraid not."

'Damn, how the hell am I going to explain that to Naruto? He'll be worried to death about his sensei' Sasuke thought with a frown. "What's the status on the palace?"

"From the messenges Shizune received, the palace is damaged, but is still in our control. Kabuto left it alone after Jiraiya and I headed here."

"So his mission was too eliminate the two of you."

"Most likely." The queen frowned. "But right now, what I want you to concentrate on is Naruto."

Sasuke blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Don't think I don't know that you're dying to get back on the field, Uchiha. Especially now that your brother has turned up."

"You know it was Itachi who injured me?"

"Naruto told Sakura, who told me."

"Hn."

"Right now, however we need you here for the ceremony. This alliance is even more important now then ever. It'll give us more strength against Orochimaru and perhaps if Earth, Water, and Air see us working together they will join and we can get rid of him and the Akatsuki once and for all."

"I see. So am I to remain in Konoha for now?"

"Yes. I also want you to train Naruto."

Sasuke blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I know he knows how to fight. But I want him to know more then just self defense. The Akatsuki may try coming after the two of you now because you represent the alliance. If you both die the alliance may die as well; or at the very least be in serious jeopardy."

"I can protect Naruto," he said, feeling defensive.

"Yes, but you can't always be around him and things happen. So I want you to train him in offensive combat over the next few months, understand Uchiha?"

Sasuke sighed. "Yes, your highness."

"Very good," the queen said. She suddenly smirked. "Don't look so glum, Uchiha. Tomorrow's your wedding day after all."

Sasuke silently wished that there wasn't a rule that you couldn't hit royalty.

TO BE CONTINUED...

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Alliance is now going to also be posted at my deviant art account with EDITED and ILLUSTRATED chapters. Meaning I will be editing the older chapters here and not only posting them here, but on deviant art as well. The chapters that get posted on deviant art will also come with other posted fanart that I've done for the series. Yes, I've illustrated this sucker. What can I say, I'm bored. If you wish to see the edited chapters or see the fanart that goes with each chapter you can do so by going to the link below which goes to my profile. The updates will be starting next week with the prologue and it's accompanying pictures.

Link: please follow link on profile to get to it. For some reason it won't let me post the entire link here ;fumes;


	21. Part II: Chapter 2

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters nor do I make any money off of this.

RATING: R to NC-17

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru. For others see first chapter

AUTHORS NOTE: Okay, I meant to get this out a LOT sooner...I just had a teensy bit of writers block and then well...holidays as well as my birthday all started at the same time (literally, my birthday was on Black Friday this year). Hopefully I will get the next part out sooner.

PART II: CHAPTER 2

_City of Konoha, Uchiha Estates,_

After their meeting with the King and Queen, Sasuke and Naruto left the headquarters and Sasuke hailed a carriage to take the two too his home in Konoha. The Uchiha clan had land that was on the outskirts of the city so it was a bit of a ride from headquarters. The two spent it in silence as they were lost in their thoughts.

They finally got onto a stone road that led away from the quiet residential areas of the city to an area that had many trees and large gated estates. At the end of the road was a large wrought iron gate that opened after Sasuke got out of the carriage to unlock it. After riding down a dirt road they came to the main house which was a large stone building. Naruto couldn't help but stare at it as he got out of the carriage. The place was about four stories high with large double doors and many windows, including four bay windows in the front.

"Come on," Sasuke said, and to Naruto's surprise led him around the house.

"Where are we going?"

"Chidori and the horses you were given were trained to come directly to Konoha if there was any trouble. I was told they arrived a day or so ago and were led here. Our belongings are most likely with them."

"Oh," Naruto said. He had actually forgotten about the horses and his belongings. He had been too worried about Sasuke to remember that his books had been with the horses.

He was led down a path that wrapped around the manor and too the back which he couldn't help but stare at. There was a back patio for entertaining and beyond that what looked to be an entire training field. Considering almost all of Sasuke's family had worked as Shinobi or had similar jobs it shouldn't have been all that surprising really. Sasuke turned to the left and they came down another path that led to a small barn with a paddock area and as Sasuke predicted, there was Chidori as well as the other horses. Their stuff had been put into a pile by the door by someone.

They grabbed as many bags as they could and Sasuke led him to the large back doors and unlocked it. The interiors of the building were just as beautiful as the outside of it. There were wood floors, wallpapered walls, and expensive looking furniture. It all reeked of money and Naruto suddenly felt a little grubby in his rough travel tunic. He had known the Uchiha family was rich; they were nobles after all, but Sasuke had never really displayed his wealth that much except for buying weapons or things he needed. Naruto himself was considered a noble but it was really only in title. Being an orphan he had no clue where he came from (aside from what Itachi had claimed and he had heard) and unlike Sasuke, couldn't trace his family back through generations. Not that he hadn't tried. He had poured over genealogy books looking for the name Uzumaki but had not been able to find any reference to the name in Wind Country. He came to the conclusion that it must have been the surname of whichever parent of his had been the demon because demon families didn't have genealogy books. At least, not ones that were available to the human world.

He couldn't help but reminded of this because all along the walls were portraits of past members of the Uchiha clan. A majority of them sported Sasuke's dark looks and all had his black eyes; and he noticed quite a few of them had his scowl as well. '_Must be a hereditary trait_' he thought in bemusement. Looking around and noticing how fairly clean it was, Naruto asked, "Does someone else live here?"

"No. There's a housekeeper who comes in everyday to clean, but other then her it's just me and now you."

"Oh." It sounded kind of lonely to Naruto and he couldn't help but wonder if Sasuke ever got restless in this place. He already felt restless and he had just set foot in the manor.

He was led up the narrow stone steps at the end of the hall and taken up two floors and down the hall to a room at the end of the corridor. The room was fairly large with a four poster mahogany bed in the center of the far wall. It was accompanied with two matching night tables, a large wardrobe against the wall beside it and a desk as well as a set of built-in shelves on the wall opposite of the bed. Across the wood floors (which had an ornate rug on it) was one of the bay windows facing the front.

"This will be your room," Sasuke said. Naruto looked up at him in surprise and Sasuke said, "Unless you would rather room somewhere else..."

"No, this is fine. Thank you," the blond said quickly. Inside he felt like kicking himself, '_What did you expect, idiot? For him to take you to his room and bed you right away?_' Not that he wanted that, he firmly reminded himself.

"Hn. Well, if you need anything, my room is right down that hall at the end," he said; gesturing to the hall that started at the end of the corridor and went to the back. Naruto nodded and watched as Sasuke started to leave.

"Um.." he started nervously and Sasuke turned to look at him. "Uh...good night."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "Good night."

The blond sighed as he left and looked around his new room. "Well, I'm home," he said lamely.

_**SasuNaru**_

Sasuke slowly unpacked his belongings. He had meant to tell Naruto about Kakashi and Iruka, really he had. But the blond had looked so forlorn already he just couldn't bring himself to do it. '_I'll tell him after the ceremony tomorrow'_. Naruto would probably be pissed at him for not telling him right away but Sasuke decided he could live with that. As for the training he was supposed to be giving the blond...he had no clue how to bring that up; nor even where to begin training Naruto in the first place. He wasn't sure anymore what Naruto knew and didn't know. Iruka probably taught him the best self defense techniques but it seemed that Naruto had decided to do some training on his own and he still didn't know how the hell the blond had gotten away from Itachi unscathed.

Yes, the two were going to have a lot to talk about tomorrow...

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

A loud knocking interrupted Naruto from a very pleasant sleep. He sleepily got out of his bed (which had been even more comfortable then his bed at the palace) and groggily opened the door.

"Well, it's about time," a far too cheerful voice said and Naruto squinted as pink hair came into view.

"Sakura?" He asked in confusion. In the past few days of Sasuke's slow recovery in the hospital the two had become fast friends, but he didn't think that they were good enough friends yet for him to allow her to wake him up at dawn.

"Get some clothes on. We're getting you ready."

Naruto blinked at the we and glanced behind her to spy Ino and Hinata behind her. Ino gave him a grin (one that automatically sent mental warning bells off in his head) and Hinata gave him a helpless shrug as if to say 'sorry, I tried to talk them out of it'.

Now alert, he looked at Sakura warily, "Get me ready for what?"

She rolled her eyes, "For your wedding, of course!"

"Oh, that," Naruto muttered.

Sakura hesitated and started to open her mouth when the door to Sasuke's room down the hall opened and a groggy looking Sasuke came out, "What the hell is going on out here?"

For a minute the group just stared at him, mostly because all he was wearing was a loose pair of sleeping pants. Ino and Sakura were clearly enjoying the view of his bare chest while Hinata eeped and turned beet red. Naruto bit his lip and couldn't help his own blush that had started to rise. Sasuke blinked at the girls and crossed his arms. "Sakura, how the hell did you get in here?"

The girl rolled her eyes at him. "Sasuke, please. The maid gave me a key ages ago. Don't go firing her either, the poor thing needs help keeping this monstrous place clean. I keep telling you it isn't a one person job."

The man sighed, "What are you doing here at this hour?"

"We thought we'd take Naruto out to get ready for the ceremony. You both are going to be in front of some of the most influential people in the lands you know."

"Don't remind me," Sasuke muttered darkly. He raised a hand and massaged his temples, "Do whatever the hell you want; just let me get some sleep." He then retreated back to his room before Naruto could protest.

Sakura and Ino grinned at each other and then turned to Naruto expectantly. The blond felt a moment of anger at Sasuke for just leaving him with the girls and heatedly thought, '_I'm going to remember this, Uchiha_.' In fact, he was already planning his revenge as the girls pushed him into his room.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Sasuke stood uncomfortably in his formal attire as he waited for Naruto outside the door. When he finally had woken up he found Naruto and the girls gone. A note had been left on the door saying Naruto would meet him at headquarters. The ceremony was to take place on the top floor of the shinobi headquarters in the same room they had met the King and Queen in. It had been set up for a banquet and was now currently packed with not only the King and Queen but officials from each of the lands, as well as several shinobi including his comrades. The ones who weren't on missions anyway.

If there was anything he hated more then parties it was being at functions where he was going to be scrutinized within every inch of his life. Although, with Naruto there, it might not be so bad. If nothing else, the blond's somewhat eccentric behavior would take the attention off of him.

"Hi," Naruto's sullen voice came from behind him.

"It's about time you..." he trailed off as he stared at the blond.

Naruto was dressed in formal attire similar to his own. Over a white tunic with blue edging and white pants was a long ankle-length wide-sleeved coat with matching blue edging. A blue obi belt and white rope as well as a odd looking necklace that had three stones on it and blue traditional sandals and white socks completed the outfit. Someone (he guessed Ino, who was notorious for being a master with hair) had even managed to get the blond's wild locks to not stick up as much and instead fall around his head and frame his eyes perfectly. The white attire stood out against the blond's naturally tan skin and the blue touches all brought out his eyes. The result was striking and made him realize once again how good-looking Naruto had become.

He also couldn't help but notice that the outfit was a nice compliment to his own formal wear which had similar clothing, but his jacket, sandals, and belt were black and his tunic and pants a deep navy blue and there was gold thread along the white edges of his jacket as well as his tunic and a gold rope belt.

Naruto glared at him as he stared and finally said, "Well, aren't you going to say something?"

He shook out of his daze and said, "Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know; how about 'sorry for leaving you with all those girls, Naruto'."

Sasuke smirked. "I thought you liked them."

"I do. But that doesn't mean I want to hang out with them all the time! Especially not when they seem to think I'm a doll or something that they get to make over!"

He shrugged. "They did a good job, I don't know why you're complaining."

"So-," Naruto stopped and stared at him. "Did you just compliment me?"

Sasuke blinked and then froze when he realized that in a way he had. "Sort of."

"You never compliment anyone," Naruto said incrediously and then frowned "Are you feeling okay?" He reached up and nudged his ninja headband up to feel his forhead.

Sasuke froze at the contact and couldn't help but notice how close Naruto's face was. Then his stomach started to do the strange lurching thing that had been happening a little too much around Naruto for his taste. He grabbed the hand that was touching his face and said, "I'm fine, idiot."

Naruto smiled, "Yeah, you must be. You just insulted me."

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

King Jiraiya then came through the doors they were standing in front of and raised an eyebrow at them. That was when Sasuke realized he was still holding Naruto's hand and quickly let go.

"Well, we're ready for you two in the hall," the King said and then retreated back inside.

Naruto swallowed beside him and the two stared at each other.

"You ready?" Naruto asked quietly.

"Not nearly," he muttered.

"Me neither."

They stood for a few more moments, staring at the door. Then Sasuke said, "Ready now?"

Naruto hesitated and then took his hand, "Do you mind?"

Sasuke shook his head. To be truthful, it helped him as much as it seemed to help Naruto. Not that he was going to admit it.

The blond then took a deep breath and said, "Okay. Let's do this."

Tightly holding onto each other's hand the two men pushed open the doors and entered the hall.

TO BE CONTINUED...

AUTHOR NOTES: I am once again terribly sorry for the delay. Along with the writer's block and other stuff I got a tad bit obsessive with planning out what Sasuke and Naruto were going to be wearing to the ceremony (I'm a dork that way) and so did several sketches and research about kimonos and such. If you wish to see other ideas I had, the sketches, as well as a final sketch of the two in their outfits will be up on my deviant art account. Just go to my profile and click the link on the BOTTOM of my profile or just look up fantasylover12001 on the site. I SWEAR there will be faster updates this coming year because it's my goal to have this finished by the end of 2008, or at the very least near finished. To accomplish this my resolution is to write and hour or more each day even with writers block. Hopefully this will make updates quicker but please do not bug me about it in reviews; updates will come when I feel the chapter is ready. Also PLEASE do not bug me about the length. I know this one is a bit short but I just felt like this was a good place to end it. I end chapters when I feel it's a good place to stop; sometimes this makes it five pages, sometimes ten. Either way, it is what it is.

Not that I don't appreciate the enthusiasm, I do. I'm just saying.


	22. Part II: Chapter 3

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

RATING: R to NC-17

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, for others, see first chapter

AUTHOR NOTES: I apologize for the massive delay. First, I had a wee bit of writers block. Then I had a plot bunny attack that wouldn't leave me alone until I started another fic (NEVER have Miyazaki marathon...you will be in danger of creativity overload) which I did start and is now posted if you wish to read it. THEN my computer hard drive crashed and I had to get a new one and anyone whose been through that experience knows that I spent a good deal of time getting all my programs back and looking up all my favorites again. Oh, and getting back my DSL connection. Yeah, it's been a fun month ;rolls eyes; But I'm back. Hopefully with regular updates from now on but I make no promises...real life tends to bite me in the ass.

PART II: CHAPTER 3

Considering how much he had been dreading the fact he was to be married, Naruto was surprised when it passed as quickly as it did. It only took about thirty minutes for the actual ceremony itself. All Naruto really felt during this was the nauseating feeling in his stomach and the tightness of the grip he and Sasuke had on each other's hand. Sasuke's hand was actually the only thing that got him through it if he was honest (he was never going to tell anyone that ever though). That strong hand kept him from bolting which he felt like doing when it came his turn to say I do and even more so when he had to sign the contract. When Sasuke's hand tightened during HIS turn to say I do and sign the contract, Naruto realized he wasn't the only one that was feeling nervous during the ceremony and felt slightly better. At least he wasn't alone in this. Sasuke might be a jerk but he was familiar. In some way, marrying a friend (if one could still consider them friends), was more comforting then marrying a total stranger.

What finally shook him though was when Sasuke slipped the ring on his finger. The blond stared down in shock at the familiar band. He had seen the ring during his childhood whenever Sasuke's mother had come for a visit and had actually secretly admired it. The ring was his mother's engagement ring. It was a silver band that had a small oval shaped aqua blue stone that had silver surrounding it in delicate loops. It was simple, yet pretty. Naruto stared at the band the fit perfectly on his ring finger and stared up at Sasuke who looked back at him impassively. He then noticed that Sasuke's ring was a matching silver band that he remembered belonged to Sasuke's father.

Not really listening to the ending talk of the ceremony, Naruto continued to stare down at the band on his finger. _'These rings have to mean a lot to him, why on earth is he giving one of them to ME?' _

This thought plagued him during the last part of the ceremony and the beginning of the reception which took place on a floor in the shinobi headquarters designed for banquets and such. As with the engagement party, he and Sasuke were expected to start off the dancing and as they started to dance Naruto finally blurted out, "It's your mother's ring."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. "Pardon?"

"My ring...it was your Mom's, wasn't it? I remember seeing it when she visited."

"Oh. Yes, it's hers. I got their rings before the funeral."

"Well...shouldn't you keep it?" Naruto asked worriedly. "I mean, it must mean a lot too you."

Sasuke sighed. "Naruto, it's fine. The ring was just laying around and I needed to give you one for the marriage." Then he added quietly, "She probably would've wanted you to have it anyway. Mother always liked you."

Naruto smiled sadly. "I liked her too."

The two were silent for the rest of the dance.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

To say that Sasuke was happy to see the carriages arrive to take everyone home would be an understatement. Never mind that he hated parties anyway, parties with Shinobi were ten times worse because Shinobi, while they may not seem like it, were big drinkers. Many of them were not fun to be around when they were drunk, either. Kiba tended to get lewder and louder the more he drank. He kept smirking at Naruto and Sasuke in a way that made the blond shift uncomfortably and Sasuke feel like killing him more then usual. Luckily, Hinata recognized the danger of an angry Uchiha and kept her boyfriend occupied after a few drinks and talked Kiba into leaving early after giving the two an apologetic smile.

Shino...just fell asleep so he actually tended to prefer his company over the others. They had long ago learned not to let Lee near alcohol and so he drank water the whole night under Sakura's watchful eye. But being Lee, he was energetic enough without the stuff. TenTen tended to challenge people to fights, and he was glad Temari was not there because usually the blonde woman accepted and that tended to cause property damage. Though the guys did tend to enjoy the show.

Like Kiba, Ino tended to more louder and blunt then she was, but unlike Kiba who had Hinata, Shikamaru was too lazy to bother controlling her. According to him she wasn't going to listen to him anyway so why bother? Chouji was one of the few who remained normal but that was because he didn't like alcohol for some reason. He claimed it destroyed food's original taste or something. If Neji and Gaara hadn't had a mission Sasuke would have stayed with them and not feel like he was COMPLETELY surrounded by insane people, but alas. So, he spent much of the party outside on the balcony overlooking the town square.

When Naruto and Sasuke got into the carriage the blond looked at him and asked, "Are Shinobi always like that when they get together? Or is that just with the alcohol?"

Sasuke snorted. "They're pretty much always like that. The alcohol just tends to make things worse."

"Oh."

"Now you know why I hate parties."

Naruto smiled at him a bit and two sat in a comfortable silence for awhile. Then Sasuke noticed that the closer they got to his home, the more Naruto started to fidget and glance at him warily. Obviously Kiba's comments earlier had gotten to the blond more then he let on. Sasuke sighed irritably, Kiba could be a great friend but sometimes his mouth ran just a bit too much. He most certainly was not going to force Naruto to have sex tonight. No where in the marriage certificate did it say they were to consummate the union straight away. As long as there was a child born within five years, they were fine. He hoped by at least the third year or so their relationship would have progressed to affection or to a point were the sex wouldn't be completely awkward.

By the time they got out of the carriage, Naruto was completely tense. When they got to the hallway where their bedrooms were, Sasuke finally sighed and said. "Naruto."

The blond looked at him.

"The Queen ordered me to train you to do more then just defend yourself so we'll start lessons tomorrow, all right?"

Naruto blinked and stared. "Uh...yeah, sure."

"Also...it's probably nothing, but Iruka and Kakashi are missing."

"What?!" Naruto said loudly. "What do you mean missing?"

"The King and Queen are here because their palace was attacked. Kakashi and Iruka were there when it happened but they got separated from the group during the battle. No one knows where they are right now."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" the blond demanded.

"We were a bit preoccupied with...well..." he held up the hand with his ring and Naruto frowned.

"You still should have told me sooner."

"What good would that have done?"

Naruto paused. "Okay, I see your point. But still...we're in this...thing together you know. That means you have to start telling me stuff."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't aware that was part of the marriage contract."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Geez, you have no clue how relationships work do you?"

"Having never been in one, no. Do you?"

The blond sighed. "Okay, no I don't. But I have seen long time couples before and I know that a lot of the reason they worked so well with each other is that they trusted each other with stuff."

Sasuke frowned. "I'm a Shinobi, Naruto. A lot of my day to day activities I won't be able to tell you. Missions are considered classified information."

"Fine. I get it. But you should at least tell me if you're going on one, okay? Plus, if you happen to know something that I'm going to need to know or should, tell me about it instead of waiting around for me to find out about it."

Sasuke nodded. He supposed he could live with that. Then he frowned. "That goes for you as well."

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

"How did you get away from Itachi? Also, you know how to do Jutsu, don't you? How on earth did you learn how too? I'm sure Iruka didn't teach you how."

Naruto blinked. "That's...a really long story."

"It's not that late. We have time."

The blond sighed and said, "Well...as for how I got away from Itachi, that has to do with how I learned Jutsu and ties in with how I know Jiraiya and Tsunade."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Continue."

"Well, it all started about a year or so after you...left. I was really restless after that. I mean, I didn't have you to talk too, and it was so BORING. Plus, the council had just started telling me that they were going to be looking for marriage prospects for me since I was now fourteen and so I was a little pissed. On top of things, Iruka said he couldn't teach me anymore self defense without there being danger of going against the carrier laws so I couldn't learn any more knew skills. It was so FRUSTRATING."

"I can imagine," Sasuke said softly.

Naruto snorted. "I doubt it. But anyways, one day I was walking near the bath area..."

_Wind Palace Baths, four years ago,_

_Naruto eyed the book in his hands in slight awe. It was a beginners book on Chakra control and beginners level Jutsu. By all rights he shouldn't be looking at it but the blond was just so irritated at the world and needed something to occupy his time. He knew he had Chakra, all carriers did, he had no clue how to use it or to even access it. When some of the Shinobi visited the palace, he had once spied on them training with their Jutsu and powers and it looked so cool. _

_So he had went into the palace library like he usually did and when the librarian wasn't looking at him, snagged several books in the back of the library on Shinobi and Chakra. He could only grab about three and so took the three that looked the most useful. The one in his hands was one of those three._

_He was headed towards the bath area because the garden that was behind the baths was the most secluded area of the palace grounds and he had very little chance of being discovered there. _

_But as he got to the path he found that it was obstructed by a large man with wild long spiky white hair who was bent over the wall of the woman's bath area and very obviously peeping. _

_Naruto rolled his eyes. "Oi, Pervert!"_

_The man jumped a mile high and Naruto watched in astonishment as he jumped onto the wall and hung there just by his feet. 'That's a Shinobi trick!' He'd seen Kakashi do it loads of times. Usually it had been to irritate Sasuke during their training._

_"Will you be quiet, brat?" The man asked frantically. "They'll here you."_

_Feeling a brilliant idea forming in his head, Naruto grinned wickedly. "Guess you don't want to get caught, huh?"_

_The man paled. "My wife would kill me if she knew I still did this! It's not like I cheat on her! Looking isn't cheating!"_

_That was debatable in Naruto's mind but it was to his advantage. "So you REALLY don't want to get caught." He said deliberately and slowly. The man was obviously a Shinobi of some kind, he'd catch Naruto's drift._

_He did and frowned at him warily. "What you want, brat?"_

_Naruto held up his book. "I need to learn the basics of Chakra and Jutsu. You obviously know both so I want you teach me for however long you're here. Also, you can't tell anyone you're teaching me."_

_The man frowned. "That's an awful lot to ask just for keeping you quiet."_

_Naruto shrugged. "Fine. I guess you won't mind if I accidently mention this to your wife. I may not know her NOW...but it's a small palace and I know pretty much everyone so it won't be hard to figure out who she is."_

_The man sighed and jumped down in front of him. "I don't like you," he said, glaring down at Naruto._

_Naruto shrugged. "That's okay. I'm pretty used to the feeling. As long as I get my lessons, I don't care how you feel about me." _

_"I could just leave you at one lesson, you know."_

_Naruto just shrugged. "Not really, I'd just bug you until you had no choice. Iruka says I'm brilliant at annoying people until they give into what I want."_

_The man started at the mention of Iruka. "Iruka?" He then looked closely at Naruto with a peculiar expression on his face. "Are you Naruto Uzumaki, by any chance?"_

_The blond blinked. "Yeah. Do I know you?"_

_He shook his head. "No. I'm Jiraiya. Let's just say I've heard about you."_

_"Oh." Crap, that meant the man had to know he was a Carrier. Maybe his brilliant idea wasn't going to work after all._

_"Well, let's get started then." Naruto blinked at him in surprise and Jiraiya sighed. "Do you want these lessons or not, kid? I leave in a month, you know."_

_Naruto beamed and led Jiraiya to the gardens..._

"So that month was when I started to learn Jutsu. Jiraiya started to visit frequently after that and during those times I managed to get him to teach me more and more. Eventually I met Tsunade and she started helping me too," Naruto finished.

Sasuke stared at him. "You learned Jutsu by black mailing our King?"

Naruto shrugged sheepishly. "I didn't know he was the King back then."

"Would knowing have made a difference in your actions?"

Naruto smirked. "Probably not."

"Well that explains that. How did you get away from Itachi, though?"

Naruto shrugged. "It wasn't anything really. I summoned Gamabunto and just sort of high-tailed it out of there. I think he let me go actually."

Sasuke blinked. "Gamabunto? You can summon the King's toad?"

"Uh, yeah. Happened a year or so ago. I was kinda bored."

"He listens to you?" Sasuke added incrediously.

"When he's in a good mood."

Sasuke just shook his head and continued to stare at Naruto as if he was crazy. Then he frowned as the rest of what the blond said sunk in. "Itachi just let you go?"

"Um...yeah. I think he was sorta shocked about the toad though. So maybe that was why. Plus, Gamabunto is pretty fast."

"Maybe," Sasuke said slowly, not really believing it. Then he noticed Naruto stifle a yawn. "It's getting late. We should get to bed. I expect you to be up on time for our first lesson."

The blond nodded and turned to his room and the stopped with a frown on his face as he studied the ring on his finger. "Hey, how did you get this ring to fit me so easily? Your Mom's fingers were a lot smaller then mine."

Sasuke smirked. "Shinobi secret. Sorry."

Naruto glared at him and muttered, "Bastard," as he turned to go into his room.

Sasuke felt like smiling again at that. Maybe he and Naruto were going to be okay after all.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Author Notes: Okay, I know this is short but you're going to get more stuff sooner then last update so no howling, please. Be happy I was able to write it at all with my writers block. To those who thought so, yes, Jiraiya was not that easily black-mailed he had other reasons for training Naruto which will be revealed soon but I won't say why now. Naruto just thinks he got away with black mailing the king. As for how Sasuke got the ring to fit Naruto's finger...I'll leave that to your imaginations ;smirk;

To those interested in reading the fic that occupied my mind for about a month (and still is there) it is archived here on under the same penname so just click on my profile. That one will probably be updated next week and I will be doing a bi-weekly update between these two until they are finished. Unless something happens which it probably will.


	23. Part II: Chapter 4

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

PAIRINGS: See first chapter but obviously it's SasuNaruSasu mainly.

RATING: R to NC-17

WARNINGS: Yaoi, obviously. Mentions of Mpreg being possible but not to be described in the fic at all. Lots of slow development if that turns you off...

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto yada, yada. If I did, Sasuke would have gone back to Naruto by now and kissed the hell out of him.

AUTHOR NOTES: So yeah, late again. Sorry. But a lot sooner then last time so I'm improving. Thank you to all the patient souls who have still stuck with this fic even though I'm taking a ridiculous amount of time with the two and their relationship, rest assured it will be happening soon though.

PART II: CHAPTER 4

Naruto woke up to loud banging on his door and glared at it with bleary eyes. Muttering about people and no respect for the dead tired, he slowly got up and opened the door. "What?!"

He then blinked at the scowling Sasuke in front of him. The man was dressed in black pants, a black sleeveless shirt, and black boots. Strapped to his back was his katana and Naruto spied several other small weapons. Try as he might to deny it, the man looked good. Naruto suddenly became aware that he was in just a pair of orange sleep pants and his hair was most likely all over the place.

"Our lessons start today, remember?" Sasuke said with a frown. Evidently, the man still had a thing about punctuality.

"Oh...right. Sorry, I forgot."

Sasuke grunted. "Hn. Well, get dressed. I'll meet you outside."

"What about breakfast?"

Sasuke sighed. "I'll meet you in the kitchen then." Then he walked off. Naruto couldn't help but watch him leave and then mentally slapped himself. _'Stop looking at his butt!_' Even though it was a very nice one.

_**SasuNaru**_

After breakfast, Sasuke led Naruto out to the back of the grounds where there was a clearing idea for training. There was a practice dummy, several targets tacked on to the trees and even a small archery range. Sasuke sat down the bag he had slung over his shoulder. "So what HAVE you learned over the years?"

Naruto shrugged. "A lot of random stuff really. The old geezers were kind of restrictive on what I could and couldn't learn so Iruka-Sensei had to make do."

"Well, what did he make do with?"

"I know self defense martial arts, first aid, how to defend with kunai knives, the basics of archery, and of course the jutsu that I taught myself which is a bunch of basic moves along with the shadow clone one and animal summoning."

"Anything with swords?"

"How to deflect moves, but that's about all. We just got to that part when you came."

"Hn. I'm surprised Iruka-Sensei got away with teaching you that at all."

Naruto grinned mischievously. "Actually, the council doesn't know about those lessons. Iruka-Sensei got fed up with them a few months ago and started teaching me the moves in secret just to spite them."

Sasuke smirked. "I see." Then he noticed the sad look on Naruto's face at the mention of his teacher. "I'm sure he's fine."

The blond looked at him doubtfully. "Really?"

"Yes. He's a pretty strong guy in his own right and on top of that, he's with Kakashi and he'd never let anything happen to him."

Naruto gave him a small smile that, for some reason, made Sasuke feel better. "So, let's get started."

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Their first lesson was mostly Sasuke learning what Naruto was capable of, and what he needed to learn and/or improve on. He first had Naruto go through all of his martial arts skills and Sasuke had to admit, the blond was good. It was obvious that Iruka drilled him in his defense moves and training. His offense moves were a little shaky, but those few the blond learned he had done so by watching the shinobi in the palace train, so that was understandable.

Naruto's kunai knife throwing was excellent. He hit the targets every time and close too, if not dead on center. Sasuke couldn't help but be a little impressed at that as well as how often he hit the center of the target in archery. However, Naruto's sword skills were sloppy at best but as he'd evidently just begun a few months ago, that was understandable. So Sasuke decided to start there and work on teaching Naruto offense martial arts as well. The blond asked him about battle jutsu and Sasuke said they would work up to those causing him to get a disappointed look.

After that started a routine. The two would often be found training in the mornings. Then they would have lunch and separate for the day. Sasuke would often go to headquarters. He wasn't sure what Naruto did while he was gone but he gathered that the blond was never bored. Often, he came home to Naruto chatting with a number of his peers. Kiba was a frequent visitor (much to his chagrin usually), as well as Sakura and Ino. Naruto had also evidently became friends with Yuki, the housekeeper, who was a middle aged woman with graying black hair and brown eyes. She had always had a motherly instinct about her and while Sasuke had been far to stubborn to get too emotionally close to her, Naruto seemed more then happy to let her make food for him when she insisted he was too skinny.

All through these routines however was a growing amount of tension that all the Shinobi were starting to notice. Sound was making more bold attacks on the country of Wind and it seemed that the group calling themselves the Akatsuki were now helping them. The Queen and King were constantly busy with reports every day and Sasuke and his comrades were sent on missions on an almost back to back basis. Tsunade wouldn't send Sasuke on long term missions because of his duties to training Naruto, but he was sent on the occasional day long errand and information gathering. He would often times come home very late from these missions.

About two weeks or so after they married, Sasuke received word from Tsunade that Kakashi and Iruka were fine. They had sent a message saying that due to injuries they had been delayed in getting to the rendevous point but they were now making their way home. Sasuke delivered this news to Naruto the minute he got home that day and was startled when the blond let out a whoop and flung his arms around Sasuke's neck causing them both to topple to the ground due to Sasuke's surprise and the blond's weight. His pride was immensely glad that none of the others had been around to see the moment.

If he was honest with himself though, Naruto was a particularly bright spot in his life at the moment. With the increasing pressures of war coming at work it was a relief to come home to Naruto's bright smiles and constant chatter about his day. Training him was also becoming quite challenging, and if there was one thing Sasuke relished, it was a good challenge. The blond took quite well to offensive martial arts and was improving almost every day. Sasuke suspected he practiced on his own while he was on missions because every time they spared the blond would do something different that Sasuke was pretty sure he hadn't taught the him. Naruto was actually becoming quite a good sparring partner and he found himself looking forward to seeing what the blond would come up with next. True, Sasuke would still always win the fights, but the time it took him to win was becoming longer and longer as the days progressed.

The sword training was going much more slowly. Some people just weren't meant to fight with swords and it seemed that Naruto, who had the tendency to be a little on the klutzy side still, would be one of those people. He would know enough to get by and defend himself but he would probably never reach Kakashi or Sasuke's level of skill. Not that Sasuke dared to tell the determined blond this; Naruto would probably try to slice him just to prove him wrong.

Not everything was perfect between the two. Due to having stubborn natures, they had the tendency to get into yelling and insult matches that would lead to one of them (usually Naruto) storming off in a huff and not talking for hours until the other came over (this was again, usually Naruto) out of necessity to talk about something. It was amazing how despite being a legal adult, Naruto had the ability to make his own inner child come out. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had ever gotten into an insult match with anyone. Actually, he did. It was when he and Naruto were twelve.

Actually, he was starting to notice that having Naruto around again was starting to effect him as well. At first it was little things he noticed. For instance, the house seemed a lot brighter with blond around and Sasuke actually found himself looking forward to being home now. He wasn't as anxious to go on long missions anymore. Even the others had commented that he seemed to be calmer lately. But it wasn't just things like this. He started to feel things around the blond.

Whenever they got closer, during training or some other instance (Naruto tended to touch people he liked a lot), his heart would start to pound. He found himself actually WANTING to be close to the blond which was the most surprising thing about the situation to him. Sasuke was not one to seek physical touches. Even when he had been in that arrangement with Neji before Gaara came along, he had never actually craved physical touches. Neji hadn't either, it was the whole reason the arrangement worked for the two of them up until Neji and Gaara met. So it was strange to WANT to put his arms around Naruto or to want the blond to lean into him. It wasn't until about two months into their marriage that Sasuke started to realize what was going on.

_**SasuNaru**_

It was early Winter by the time they had been married for two months. Snow had started to fall outside and the Winter Solstice celebration was in about a week and a half. Naruto had been extra hyper due to this. Even when they were younger, the Winter solstice had always been the blond's favorite time of year. One of his most vivid memories was of a younger Naruto dragging him outside during the first snowfall of the season and challenging him to snowball fights. He personally, thought snow was a nuisance, but Naruto loved it.

In a desperate attempt to get Naruto's energy down and to stop him from not-too-subtly asking him what he wanted for presents (he honestly didn't CARE) Sasuke proposed a spar. Never one to turn down a challenge, Naruto happily agreed and they went into one of the indoor practice rooms that was on the lower levels of the mansion.

The spar was lasting a lot longer then Sasuke expected it too. Mostly because Naruto was enjoying dodging out of the way of his punches and kicks and irritating him to death. One of Naruto's strengths was that he seemed to have limitless amounts of energy and the blond seemed to have realized it. So now during their spars he tended to just dodge instead of attack and wait for Sasuke to eventually tire before launching his own attacks. This went on for about half an hour before Sasuke finally scowled and grabbed one of Naruto's wrists instead of punching. Naruto yelped as he was pinned to the floor by Sasuke who glared down at him.

They stayed like that for a few seconds until Naruto finally started to laugh, causing the man on top of him to frown in confusion. "What is so funny?"

"You," Naruto said, in between giggles. "When you scowled at me just now, it reminded me of when we were kids."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the giggling blond under him. Naruto's mind worked in strangest ways he thought. He was tempted to ask, but decided not to for the sake of his sanity. Instead he just waited for Naruto's laughter to die down. As he watched the blond, a sudden urge came over him and Sasuke blinked at the force of it. Something must have shown on his face because Naruto stopped giggling and looked up at him concern. "Sasuke, are you okay?"

He just stared down at the blond and thought _'I'm not sure. I just had the most overwhelming urge to kiss you senseless.'_

A sudden cough interrupted his thoughts and they looked up to see Kakashi and Iruka in the doorway. Iruka was looking at them worriedly and Kakashi, looking very amused, asked innocently, "I'm sorry. Should we come back?"

Sasuke then became abruptly aware how the position the two of them were in must look. Naruto on the other hand, just squirmed quickly out from under him and ran over to Iruka. "Iruka-Sensei, you're back!"

Iruka smiled at the blond as they hugged. "It's good to see you, Naruto. I'm sorry we missed the wedding."

"That's okay. You didn't miss much anyway." He frowned over at Kakashi. "You've been taking care of him right, Pervert?"

Iruka sighed. "Naruto..." Kakashi just nodded at the blond.

"Good," Naruto tugged on Iruka. "Come on, I'll show you around." Iruka obediently followed with a nod to Sasuke and look to Kakashi that Sasuke raised an eyebrow at.

When the two were alone, Sasuke glanced at his teacher. "I take it you've made progress with Iruka-Sensei."

Kakashi, looking ridiculously happy in his opinion, just said, "I don't kiss and tell, Sasuke. You know that."

Sasuke gave him a 'yeah right' look but left it alone.

"I see you and Naruto have reached an understanding while we were away."

"I suppose you could call it that," Sasuke said. "He no longer wants to bite my head off, anyway. At least, not constantly."

"You looked awfully cozy just now."

"You want something to eat?" Sasuke said, skillfully changing the subject. He didn't want to think about what happened a few seconds ago. His mind was still racing with the implications of what wanting to kiss Naruto could possibly mean. Whatever it meant, it complicated things, and with his brother out there causing trouble and the war that was surely brewing, things were complicated enough.

**_SasuNaru_**

Naruto hadn't realized he had been looking at his Sensei every few minutes until Iruka finally sighed. "Naruto, I'm FINE. Really."

The blond frowned. "Sorry. Why did you stay so long, anyway?"

His teacher looked away. "Kakashi was injured during the attack on the palace. I barely managed to drag him away from the battle to get to a healers. He almost died. I stayed with him until he recovered."

"I see," Naruto said quietly. Come to think of, Kakashi did have a bandage around his waist earlier, didn't he? He then looked at his teacher curiously, "You two worked things out, also didn't you?"

Iruka flushed. "Yes, we did."

Naruto sighed. "I guess that means I have to stop calling him pervert now, huh?"

"It would be nice, but I don't expect you too. You wouldn't be you, if you didn't."

The blond grinned.

Iruka studied him for a minute. "You seem happy here."

Naruto paused and thought about it. "Yeah, I kind of am. I mean, Sasuke's still kind of a jerk sometimes, but that's just how he is. I've got other friends to talk too when I'm ticked off at him and I'm free to go wherever I want. It's a lot better then the palace. There's also an awesome ramen stand here!"

Iruka smiled, "Really?"

"Yeah, I'll take you tomorrow after training."

"Training?"

"Oh yeah, Sasuke's teaching me stuff right now. The old hag told him to do it. Did you know Tsunade was a Queen?"

Iruka blinked. "How did you know the Queen?"

Naruto froze and realized his blunder. He had momentarily forgotten that he had never introduced Jiraiya or Tsunade to his teacher because he didn't want the man to find out about him learning jutsu in secret. "Uh...hey, you haven't met Yuki yet, have you? Come on, I'll introduce you!"

"Naruto..." Iruka said dangerously as he was dragged towards the kitchens.

_**SasuNaru**_

The four of them ate dinner together, along with Yuki, who had been dragged to the table by Naruto. Normally, the housekeeper was too formal to eat meals at the same table, but Naruto was never one for formality. In his opinion, since she made such a great meal in the first place, she should be praised and most certainly deserved to eat with them. Sasuke had never cared either way so didn't say a word except nod his thanks at her as she sat down nervously with them. His mind was too preoccupied at the moment to really care anyway. Now that he and Naruto were in the same room again, his eyes kept wandering to the blond and that same urge kept coming back, although it was slightly smaller. But it was still there and that made him nervous.

He spent the meal quietly listening to the others talk; occasionally nodding when Naruto asked him for confirmations of the blond's stories, but mostly just kept watching the blond and analyzing these new thoughts that popped up now that he was aware of them. Because he was starting to realize that they had been there for a while now, he'd just stubbornly pushed them to the back of his mind to deal with other things.

But now Sasuke's mind seemed to not let him forget that he had (and still did) WANTED to kiss Naruto. That was also making him sharply aware of the blond's presence and his body's reaction to it. He became aware of his fingers itching to bury themselves in those soft-looking blond locks, or play with the hairs at the back of the neck like he had spotted Kakashi doing with Iruka's hair on occasion that night. Having those two there was not helping. He was happy for them, really he was, but seeing how content they were now in each other's presence and obviously quite happy was just supplying his mind with too many ideas. Needless to say, he was quite happy when dinner was over. Sasuke practically ran to his room to get away from the others. But mainly to get away from Naruto.

Because he was not dumb. He now realized what this meant. He was attracted to Naruto.

TO BE CONTINUED...

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yes, yes, I know this is short but we have progress now. Well, as much progress as Sasuke will get for now (he's stubborn remember, it'll take awhile for him to actually DO something about it.) I promise the next chapter will be out sooner.

As mentioned before there is fanart for this fic and it can be found on my deviant art account which is under the same name as here, or you can just click the link which can be found on my writer's profile somewhere.


	24. Part II: Chapter 5

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, just this AU idea. I make no money off of this.

RATINGS: R to NC-17

AUTHOR NOTES: Okay, I really did mean to start on this sooner but real life came up. I've changed jobs and the family is moving. It's not far, but as anyone who has moved probably knows, that takes up time. Another plot bunny also crept up on me and I've been preoccupied with it even though I have three fics going on right now. ;sigh; I may post it soon, but I think I'll wait until I get at least through Part II of this monster. So there are my excuses, sorry for delays, please read on, I hope you enjoy.

PART II: CHAPTER 5

_Konoha City, Uchiha Manor Grounds,_

Naruto looked down at the soup he was making with a frown. Around the Winter Solstice celebration, Iruka and Yuki decided it was time for him to learn to cook. Naruto tried to remind Iruka of the time when he was ten and wanted to make Sasuke a cake for his birthday but Iruka waved it off saying he was only ten then and hadn't known what he was doing. The cook back then hadn't seemed to think so, but Naruto just shrugged. If nothing else, learning the skill gave him something to do.

Unfortunately, it seemed no matter what he tried to make, it ended up horrible tasting. He didn't burn anything this time but nothing he had made so far was what you could call edible. The blond sighed and looked down at the noodle dish he was trying to make. Yuki was off today so if the dish didn't work out, he and Sasuke were having sandwiches tonight. THAT he could make without giving anyone food poisoning.

The doors to the kitchens opened and Naruto looked up and smiled at Sasuke as he walked in. "Welcome back."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted tiredly and sat down at the table with a sigh. The blond frowned. Though Sasuke usually only went on short missions and for weekly meetings with the Shinobi, every week it seemed the man came home looking more grim then the last one. "Bad news?" he asked Sasuke.

"Most of the meetings are these days," Sasuke muttered darkly. The blond frowned and turned back to his soup. Sasuke never TOLD him what was going on, even though he knew that Naruto knew that SOMETHING was happening. He was also pretty sure that something involved Sasuke's brother which meant that it involved Sasuke. It irked him that he wasn't being told anything.

He was so busy stewing that he didn't even notice when Sasuke got up until the man was right behind him looking over his shoulder at the pot of soup. "What is that?"

"Oh, uh...noodles? In some kind of soup. It was in Yuki's recipe box and looked good so I thought I'd make it for dinner." Naruto said sheepishly. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him and frowned.

"May I see the recipe?"

He looked at Sasuke in surprise and handed him the card. Sasuke studied it a minute or so, looking from it to the soup and then sighed. "Here." Naruto then watched in slight shock as Sasuke took the spoon from him and proceeded to make some adjustments to the soup and then soon it was looking and smelling actually good.

"Since when did you know how to cook?" Naruto asked incredulously.

Sasuke smirked. "I didn't always have Yuki. She's only been here about two years or so, before her I had to fend for myself. So I obviously had to learn to cook."

"Oh. I thought she came with the place."

"No. She's actually a woman I saved once from a couple of bandits. She was grateful and needed work and apparently decided I needed looking after."

Naruto snickered. "Didn't take no for an answer, huh?"

"I believe she is more stubborn then you are."

"I knew I liked her for a reason," Naruto said and sat down to watch Sasuke finish cooking. Sasuke, it turned out, was actually quite a good cook. As the two sat in companionable silence, Naruto smiled. "Maybe from now on you should do the cooking."

Sasuke gave him a small smile and Naruto quickly looked down. _'Oh no, it's starting up again' _His heart was starting to do the quickening pace thing again. Just like it used too when he was thirteen. Well, he firmly told himself, that was then. This time he wouldn't give in so easily.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Sasuke slowly shed his uniform later that night. The meeting had brought more bad news from Wind. Orochimaru and his warriors had seized another village and from these reports, it sounded like his brother was there. As was the normal now, part of him was itching to leave the village and confront Itachi head on. But things were different. Mainly, Naruto was here. He had a duty to his husband and to the Queen to keep his promise and train the blond. He would too. It helped that Naruto was progressing beautifully. But all of that didn't mean he had to like it.

It didn't help that Naruto himself was another problem he was having.

Not that Naruto realized he was a problem and Sasuke intended to keep it that way. He had yet to decide what to do about this newfound attraction for the blond. It was getting difficult to ignore it however. For instance just now when they were having dinner, Sasuke had kept finding himself mesmerized by Naruto's lips as he ate and talked. He was honestly surprised Naruto hadn't noticed his strange behavior yet. In the past few weeks he had been testing things between the two of them. Actually, his attempts to brush up close to the blond and (dare he say it) flirt, were making him feel like a besotted fool. More and more, the idea of just out right kissing Naruto and seeing how the blond took it was looking more appealing. Right now that idea was on the back burner though until he had some idea how the blond would respond.

But mostly because he still had no clue what he wanted to do about it.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

A week later the two of them were about half way through Naruto's lesson when Sasuke finally gave into his curiosity about Naruto's summoning ability and asked if he could watch the blond summon his frog. Naruto looked slightly surprised and then grinned.

"Sure...but I can't guarantee he'll come."

"You can't?" Sasuke asked in surprise. "I was under the impression that summoned animals were bound by contract to serve the one who summoned them."

"Normally, yeah. But Gamabunta kind of has an attitude, which could or could not be because he's considered some kind of ruler among the frogs."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Really? I wasn't aware frogs had leadership."

Naruto shrugged. "He's some sort of high spirit-demon or something, those kind of frogs do. I'm not sure on the details, all I know is he gives me a long lecture if I summon him for no good reason."

"I take it he would see meeting me is not a good reason?"

"He would probably see it as a waste of time, yes. Which is why we'll probably get one of his sons instead, they're much smaller."

"Probably just as well," Sasuke said, glancing around at the walls around the garden they were in. If this frog was as big as the others had told him, the garden would have been in shambles and both he and Naruto would be in major trouble with Yuki. Knowing her, she would have made them clean it up themselves.

"Well, here I go," Naruto said, kneeling to the ground. He paused and glanced up at Sasuke. "Uh...you might want to step back a little. I haven't seen his kids in awhile and they might not be so little anymore, if you catch my drift."

Sasuke got to a safe distance and watched in fascination as Naruto put his hand to the ground and started the summoning. He had seen Kakashi do it loads of times with his nin-dogs as well as the King and Queen on occasion, but seeing Naruto do it just felt different. It was one thing to know that Naruto now knew jutsu, it was another thing entirely, watching him actually perform the jutsu. Sasuke couldn't help but stare as a frog appeared blocking his view of the blond. It was about as tall as a tree, and almost as long as the left wing of his mansion. He took up almost the whole back yard.

"Huh?" The frog said, glancing around. "How the hell did I get here? Where is here?"

"Hey, Gamakichi!" Naruto got in front of the frog and waved at him.

"Naruto? What do you want? I was trying to eat!" the frog said in a slightly peeved tone.

Naruto smiled at him. "Nice to see you too. Man, you grew in the last year."

Gamakichi practically preened under Naruto's words. "Yup. Soon, I'm going to be just as big as Pa. So what's up? You want to train again? Oh, are we going to do the mountain leaping thing, again? That was fun!"

"Mountain leaping thing?" Sasuke finally said, giving Naruto a pointed look.

The blond gave him an innocent look. "It's not as bad as it sounds,"

Sasuke frowned at him, but he let it go. It was probably safer for him that he didn't know EVERYTHING Naruto had gotten up in the last few years. Heaven only knew what Gamakichi was talking about. It could be something totally different from what he was imagining, but knowing Naruto, he doubted it.

As if sensing his doubts, Naruto quickly changed the subject. "So, Gamakichi, this is Sasuke. Sasuke, Gamakichi."

The frog turned to peer down at him curiously and unsure what to do, Sasuke just nodded stiffly at him.

"THIS is the guy you kept babbling about years ago? What's so great about him?" Gamakichi said, looking at him up and down disdainfully.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and Naruto looked between the two nervously. "Okay, well, Gamakichi, great seeing you as always. But you should probably get back. Say to your Dad for me."

"What?" the frog looked down at the blond. "You summoned me here, interrupting my meal by the way, just to meet this guy and now you're telling me to leave after a minute?"

"Yup," Naruto said.

Gamakichi grumbled, "Stupid humans. Pa's right, all of you are freaking insane." With that he puffed out of sight.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Are they always like that?"

"Pretty much. It's why I've gotten out of the habit of summoning them lately."

"Hn. What did he mean by 'this is the guy you kept babbling about?'"

Naruto blinked and then glanced towards the house. "Is that Yuki, I hear? We better go see what she wants!" He then took off.

Sasuke shook his head.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

It was around mid January when Sasuke got the summons from Tsunade to meet her at headquarters immediately. Wondering what happened this time he slowly trudged his way through Konoha to her office and was surprised when he entered by the sight of Neji and Gaara standing in front of her desk.

"When did you two get back?" he asked in surprise.

"Last night," Neji said with a yawn. It was then that he noticed how tired the two of them were. Even Gaara, who tended to not sleep much in the first place.

Suddenly getting a bad feeling, he said, "What happened?"

"Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" Tsunade said.

Sasuke just gave her a look and she sighed. "Well, it appears that Orochimaru is dead."

He stared at her. Then he looked at Neji and Gaara. "Are you sure?"

"All evidence points to this conclusion," Neji said. "However, since it IS Orochimaru we are talking about, it's possible we are mistaking. After all, Kabuto is still out there, and heaven knows what he'd do to ensure his master's safety."

"Good point," Sasuke murmured. Then he frowned. "What's the bad news?"

"Someone else has taken his place in the war."

"Itachi," Sasuke said.

"No, surprisingly. Though he is still involved in this. It's a man named Madara. Madara Uchiha."

Sasuke stared at her. "That's not possible. My father killed him years ago. Itachi and I saw him do it." His father had never been quite the same afterwards either.

"Well, then, the man Neji and I saw must have been quite the illusion or he was lying about who he was," Gaara said.

"Whether or not he is Madara Uchiha," Tsunade said, interrupting the argument before it could break out. "We are in big trouble."

Sasuke turned and headed towards the door. Tsunade stood up. "Where do you think you are going, Uchiha?"

"To get answers," he snapped back at her and walked out.

_**SasuNaru**_

Naruto blinked as he heard the door slam from the front of the mansion all the way from the library.

"Oh boy," he muttered. Sasuke was obviously in a pissy mood again.

The blond sat down his book and went to go find the man and blinked when he found Sasuke walking around his room, packing up some things.

"Where are you going?" he blurted out.

Sasuke started as if just realizing he was there. Then he frowned. "Away. There's something I have to find out. I shouldn't be gone long."

"What do you have to find out?" Naruto said, looking at him in confusion.

The man finally paused and let out a breath. "Orochimaru is dead."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"We're pretty sure, yes."

The blond frowned. "Well, shouldn't you be happy about that?"

"I would be, accept that according to reports someone else has taken his place. Someone calling himself Madara Uchiha."

Naruto stared at him. "No way. Didn't you say he was dead?"

"That's what I need to find out."

The blond looked at him for a few minutes. "All right, I go pack up."

Sasuke blinked. "Naruto, you're not going."

Naruto snorted. "Says who? You? I don't think so. I'm going, whether you like it or not Uchiha."

"I don't like it. You're not going," Sasuke said in his firmest voice. The voice always worked whenever he got stuck with green ninja in the field but apparently Naruto wasn't affected because the blond just put his hands on his hips.

"Yes, I am."

"No. You're not."

"Yes. I. Am. I'll just sneak out and follow you anyways, so you might as well save yourself the trouble, Sasuke."

"Not if I lock you in your room," Sasuke grumbled. He hated it when Naruto started to win their arguments.

The blond grinned. "I know how to pick locks, remember?"

Sasuke sighed. "Fine. But the minute we run into danger, you do as I tell you, all right?"

"Yeah, yeah," the blond left to go pack.

"Stubborn idiot," he muttered as he went back to packing.

The two left a note for Yuki after they gathered their things and headed towards the gate and Sasuke halted as he saw Neji waiting at the entrance for them. The black haired man looked at them with faint amusement in his white pupil-less eyes. "The Queen told me to tell you that you have her permission to seek your answers as long as Gaara and I accompany you. She also says that if it actually turns out to be Orochimaru wearing a mask to at least save her some of his body so she can kick his ass somehow."

Sasuke smirked. "Understood."

Naruto, who had been staring at Neji curiously throughout the message finally blurted out. "What's up with your eyes?"

Neji raised an eyebrow at the blond. "I'm an Hyuuga."

The blond frowned and looked at Sasuke. "What's an Hyuuga?"

Sasuke groaned. "Naruto, this is Neji Hyuuga from the Hyuuga clan. Neji, this is Naruto Uzumaki-Uchiha. My husband."

Neji's eyes widened. "You're Naruto?" Then he smirked. "So, has Sasuke told you about any of his Genin days, yet?"

The blond shook his head. "No."

Pointedly ignoring Sasuke's dark glare. Neji put his arm around the blond. "Allow me to tell you about the time Sakura and Ino decided to have a competition over his love. Now mind you, this was before they knew he was gay..."

Sasuke sighed. _'This is going to be a long trip'_ he thought.

TO BE CONTINUED....

AUTHORS NOTES: Once again, sorry about the delay. Hopefully the next update won't be as long. Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!

To those who are confused about who this Madara Uchiha character is, please read the most recently translated chapters of Naruto. While I am obviously not mirroring cannon events at all in this fic (Itachi is in fact fully crazy and wants to kill people in this one, but I have a reason for why he is that way...which I'm not going to reveal at the moment ;insert evil cackle;) I did draw some inspiration for this development from recent happenings. Although again, not the same as in the manga.


	25. Part II: Chapter 6

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND, PART II

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. I am not making any money off of this, please don't sue. You won't get anything anyways…

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, NejiGaara, KakaIru, many others; see first part for full list.

RATING: R to NC-17 for one or two parts.

AUTHOR NOTES: I once again apologize for the massive delay. The good thing is I now know how I'm actually getting to the ending of this sucker so the writing process will hopefully go a lot faster now that I know what I need to put in ahead of time (I've got the last chapters of part II all figured out already!) Now it's not going to be as long as I had actually thought. Now there are only ten chapters for this part and ten for the part III, but they will be a little longer I think. So it evens out. I would say this should now be done by the end of the year but I make no promises…

PART II: CHAPTER 6

_Somewhere on the outskirts of the Land of Konoha_,

Naruto decided about halfway to their destination that he liked Neji. The man was funny. It wasn't in a completely obvious way like Kiba, but he had a rather dry wit. Plus, he seemed to enjoy pissing Sasuke off, which made Naruto like him even more. It was nice to finally have someone else get why he liked making Sasuke mad. None of the others understood it. In fact, Sakura had informed him on numerous occasions that this might be a sickness, and he should come see her sometime about it at the hospital. But clearly Neji had discovered the same thing he had: watching Sasuke get mad and try and keep his cool while getting mad (and utterly failing at times) was FUN.

After about the second or third embarrassing story about Sasuke though, Neji decided to take pity on the man and change the subject. Naruto was sorely disappointed. He had hoped for some blackmail material…

"So Sasuke, how is Hinata? I didn't get to go see her when I was in the village," Neji asked.

Sasuke scowled at him. "Fine." He obviously wasn't going to forget the story-telling for a while.

For a minute Naruto was confused about why Neji would be asking about Hinata then he looked at Neji thoroughly and realized his eyes and Hinata's were the same. They also looked somewhat alike though Neji's hair was darker. Then he remembered Neji saying he was a Hyuuga and then felt a little stupid. "You and Hinata are related?"

Neji nodded at him. "She is my cousin. "

Sasuke snorted at him. "How long did it take you to figure that out Dobe?"

Naruto glared at him. "Shut up." Yeah, okay he sometimes missed the obvious stuff, but Sasuke still didn't have to call him that!

Neji watched the two of them bicker back and forth for awhile in amusement and finally asked, "Are you two always like this?"

The two broke off their argument to look at him. "Like what?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Like an old married couple."

Naruto blinked and Sasuke scowled at him. "Shut up, Hyuuga."

Neji just shrugged and the three continued to their destination.

_**SasuNaru**_

By nightfall they reached the meeting spot with Gaara and Naruto found himself staring at the other man as Neji warmly greeted him. He didn't mean to stare but the man was just so…odd looking. He was obviously a Shinobi, judging from his build and the way he carried himself. Then he also had dark red spiky hair with bright blue eyes that had dark rings outlining them. Then there was the red kanji tattooed on his forehead. But none of that was what Naruto was staring at. It was what he was feeling when he looking at him.

At first he couldn't help but wonder if he was mistaken, but he tested the red heads Chakra again and there it was. "You're like me…," He said softly in wonder and all three of the males looked at him.

There was complete silence and then Gaara sighed and walked up to the blond and held out his hand, "Gaara."

Naruto, feeling slightly shocked, shook it. "Naruto…you are like me, right?"

Gaara sighed. "If you mean, am I a half demon, then yes."

"How?"

Gaara raised a brow, of which Naruto now saw had next to no hair on them. "Much in the way you were created, I imagine. My father met my mother, who was a demon, they had sex…"

"No," Naruto shook his head. "I mean, how are you a SHINOBI? I mean the laws….shouldn't you have been at the palace with me?"

A dark look came over the red head's face and Neji put a hand on his shoulder. "It's a rather long story. One we don't have time for if we want to find Madara."

"If it is Madara," Sasuke scoffed.

Neji sighed and interrupted them before an argument could break out. "Enough, you two. Let's set up camp for tonight so we can leave first thing in the morning."

They nodded and proceeded to go about their duties. Naruto was given the task of collecting firewood and as he did he kept darting looks over at Gaara who seemed to be ignoring. He had never met another carrier before and it was baffling that all this time there was one out there besides him. On top of that, he was a SHINOBI! Part of Naruto wanted to resent the red head, because apparently he hadn't had the restrictions placed on him like Naruto had. But a larger part of him was just plain excited. He couldn't WAIT to get know Gaara. He was sure the two of them would be great friends.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Later that night, Neji watched in amusement as Naruto tried to engage Gaara in conversation. He looked over at Sasuke, who was watching the scene as well with a smirk. "Certainly is talkative, isn't he?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You have no idea."

"How on earth did the two of you become friends in the first place? I would have thought you'd have killed him."

"He bugged me to death until I relented. I also did come quite close to killing him a few times."

Neji snorted and Sasuke glared at him. The man shrugged and then said, "So, how's married life? I never would have thought YOU would be the first of us to get married."

Sasuke sighed. "It's…different. I didn't ask for it either."

"I know. Still, it's funny. When we were together, you were very against the idea of marriage."

Sasuke frowned. "We weren't serious, remember?"

"No, we weren't. But you have to admit, it's funny."

"To you, maybe. Did you have to tell those stories to Naruto?"

"No, but I wanted too."

"Hn, and Naruto calls ME the bastard."

Neji just smiled. "Consider it payback for the stories you told Gaara when the two of us first got together."

"Jerk."

"Asshole."

They smirked at each other and then returned to the entertaining sight of Naruto telling Gaara stories about the palace and how lucky the redhead was because he didn't have to grow up there.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Throughout the next few days, Sasuke kept a close eye on Naruto. It was not because of over protectiveness, but because he was sure Gaara was coming close to strangling the blond. He would have to be there to prevent Naruto's death. Even if the blond and his big mouth might deserve the punishment.

To his surprise, Naruto was not offended about Gaara being a Shinobi. He was sure the blond would have been mad that another Carrier was given the chances he himself had been denied. But instead, Naruto seemed determined to make Gaara his new friend. Which was good for Naruto, because it kept him occupied on the trip, but bad for Gaara because now the blond talked to him. Constantly.

"So, have you met your Mom?" Naruto asked. "I've never met either of my parents, you know. I don't even know which one was the demon, and which was the human. Though I guess in the long run, it doesn't matter."

"No, I have not met my mother," Gaara muttered.

"Oh. Do you know what kind of demon she was? My parent was a fox demon. At least that's what the frogs told me. They could tell because of my Chakra signature, though I'm not sure how."

On and on the questions went like this. Sasuke could tell Gaara was growing irritated but also found himself liking Naruto, even if he wanted to hit him. Sasuke could relate. He had similar conflictions often when he and Naruto had first met. He almost felt like telling the redhead that it was useless trying to stay annoyed and angry at the blond, he tended to grow on you.

But the growing affection part took time, Sasuke thought as he watched Naruto talk to the redhead as he sat trying to meditate. Seeing the redhead's hand twitch on his knees, Sasuke decided it was time to interfere. He sighed and went over to Naruto and quickly led the blond away by the arm. He didn't miss the grateful look Gaara sent him. Well, grateful look for Gaara anyway.

"Hey, I was having a conversation, Bastard!" Naruto protested as they walked.

Sasuke snorted. "Constantly chattering at a person while they're trying to meditate is not having a conversation, Dobe. That's called making a nuisance of yourself."

Naruto blinked, and glanced back at Gaara curiously. "That's what he was trying to do?"

"Yes, idiot."

Naruto glared. "Well, excuse me! I've never meditated before! How was I supposed to know?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and nudged the blond forward. "Just go get firewood, Dobe."

"Don't call me that," Naruto muttered, but did as he was told. For once.

'_How on earth did I become attracted to such an idiot_?' Sasuke thought, as he watched him go.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

The next day, the group had entered the dense forest that surrounded the village they were going too. Waterfall village was the last known sighting of Itachi and the man calling himself Madara Uchiha. The forest was full of tall wild trees that were close together and the only way through was the main road that led to the entrance of the village. In the distance Naruto could hear the sound of the rushing waterfall that the village was named for.

As they grew closer, Sasuke seemed to get tenser. Naruto had no clue how to talk to him when he was like this. He was sure most of the tenseness had to do with the real possibility that they would run into Itachi. But every so often, he would catch the man looking at him out of the corner of his eye. Naruto didn't know what to make of these looks; they were strange and made his skin tingle. Though it was probably just Sasuke worrying about his safety, the over protective idiot.

In the next hour they reached Waterfall's gate and were surprised when no one greeted them. "That's odd," Neji muttered, as they cautiously continued. "Usually there are guards."

"Maybe they're busy?" Naruto asked. "I mean, it's a small village, right? They don't have Shinobi either."

"Maybe." Naruto could tell Neji didn't think so, though.

When they entered the clearing though, Neji was proven right. Naruto gasped as they surveyed the scene.

Waterfall was small, like Naruto had read. It was basically right by the waterfall it was famous for and was divided into two by the river the waterfall was a part of and surrounded by walls to protect it from intruders. It was quiet and with the rushing water, rather soothing. However, from the collapsed walls and buildings, it was clear that it was not as peaceful as it looked. Damage was everywhere you looked, and at the entrance of the gate, you could see bodies of guards. Naruto noticed them last and then took off in that direction.

"Naruto!" He heard, Sasuke shout after him, but ignored the man.

The first person he checked was dead already. In fact, they all were. Naruto kept on checking though. Iruka had taught him first aid thoroughly enough that he could be licensed as a healer if he were allowed to. Hopefully there were still SOME villagers left alive that he could help in some way. But it seemed whoever did this was thorough. He wasn't finding ANYONE. It didn't help that with all the collapsed buildings, a lot of the bodies were covered in debris from the wreckage.

He heard Sasuke and the others following him but none of them tried to stop him as he just kept checking for pulses. Just as Naruto was about to give up hope of finding anyone he heard it. The blond stopped, the other three did the same. Naruto stood for a few seconds, listening carefully. Sasuke frowned. "Naruto?"

"Shh." Then he heard it again. The distinct sounds of someone sniffling.

"Hello?" He shouted. "Is anyone alive here?"

The three looked at him and then they heard the sniffling too.

Naruto frowned when no one answered. "Look, I swear we aren't the bad guys. We're here to help."

They waited a few seconds more until finally a small voice said, "Over here."

Naruto turned in the direction of the voice and found a collapsed cottage. "I'm stuck."

The others helped him as he started to go through the rubble until finally, the blond moved a log and found a young boy staring up at him with wide black eyes. He looked about eight years old or so and had wild black eyes and was dirty from the mess of the village. Other then the fact that his foot looked damaged and quite a few scratches, he looked fine. Naruto sighed in relief, happy to find SOMEONE among the wreckage. He knelt down as Neji and Sasuke freed the boys foot. "Hi, I'm Naruto."

The boy wiggled free and then looked up at him shyly. "I'm Inari."

"It's nice to meet you Inari. How about we get that foot looked at, huh?"

SasuNaru

Sasuke was getting nervous. The village was too quiet. Granted, it looked like the whole place was wrecked and the Inari kid was apparently the only one who survived but still…However, he wasn't leaving anytime soon. Naruto was calming Inari down enough so he could tell them what happened but it was going slowly. The kid was terrified and his wounds needed tending too. So he, Neji, and Gaara stood watch while Naruto patched up the kid and soothed him.

'_He sure has a way with kids'_ Sasuke thought, watching the two. Sasuke himself, had trouble relating to kids. He just didn't get them, and he tended to terrify them to begin with. On the other hand, they seemed to latch on to Naruto quickly. The kids that lived near his house adored the blond already and in the few short months he had arrived had decided he was their new favorite playmate. More often than not, Sasuke had come back from missions to find Naruto engaged in rousing games with them that he had never heard of.

Naruto had finally finished up the foot and was tending to Inari's cuts when he tried to get the kid to talk about his family.

"So, was this your house, Inari?" Naruto asked quietly at first. Indicating the pile of stone and wood they had found Inari in.

Inari's face fell. "No. It's a hotel. I'm not from here; I'm from Wave Village; not far from here. I was with a friend of the family's when…"

"When what?" Naruto asked gently. Sasuke, Neji, and Gaara all turned to look at the kid.

"When THEY came," Inari said in a frightened voice.

"Who are they?" Sasuke asked. Naruto frowned at him but Sasuke ignored him. They needed to know who did this.

Inari shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that when my friend and I left after breakfast, two men with red eyes came into the village and started to level the buildings. The guards and soldiers that were here tried to stop them but they…" he stopped and Naruto held him as he started to sob.

Sasuke stiffened. '_Red eyes. It could be anyone. It doesn't necessarily MEAN that it was Itachi and this person trying to pass himself off as my grandfather. Though, I'm sure Itachi would have no problem doing this._' His brother had shown that he enjoyed destroying things in the past quite often.

But just as he was telling himself this a dark laugh started and the group froze at the sound. Just then, Kisame appeared on the roof of one of the few buildings that had escaped damage. "Heh. Looks like you missed one, Itachi. Sloppy work."

Sasuke whirled in the direction Kisame looked at which was the waterfall. His brother appeared right in front of it. "How was I to know that some kid got lucky?"

"Nevertheless, we now have what we wanted," another unrecognizable voice said and another figure appeared next to Itachi. Sasuke stared in shock at his grandfather.

"Hello, Sasuke."

AUTHOR NOTES: Yeah, yeah, I know LATE. I'm sorry. Real life sucks. But as said above, writing should go much more smoothly now that I know where I'm going exactly. Please review. Flames will be ignored though.


	26. Part II: Chapter 7

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND, P

PART II

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCL AIMER: I do not own Naruto or any recognizable characters. But I do own the AU verse and plot idea. If that counts for anything…which it doesn't because I don't get paid for this.

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, and others mentioned.

AUTHOR NOTES: Many apologies for massive delay. My new computer turned out to have a faulty memory drive (I'm never buying computers from the store I got it at again) so I had to send it in and was without it for over a month and then I had to work on my other SasuNaru fic. Then this chapter got complicated because it's action mostly and action scenes tend to take me longer then usual because they aren't my strength. So sorry once again. But thank you to all who have reviewed and shown patience with me. Please enjoy.

PART II: CHAPTER 7

Naruto couldn't help but stare a bit at the man known as Sasuke's grandfather. He had never actually met Madara Uchiha, but he had heard of him. Most of the people in the lands knew of the man who had tried to start a rebellion against the four nations but ultimately failed due to his family's interference. Namely Sasuke's father. He had been about eight or so when it had happened. Sasuke had returned to the palace even more quieter then before and it had taken him over a month to get him to smile again.

Just remembering that, made Naruto hate the man before him. Not as much as he hated Itachi for putting his brother through the pain of betrayal, but almost as big. The blond glared at the figure before him. He was obviously an Uchiha. He had the same dark hair and eyes that Sasuke and all his family had. He was older, around King Jiraiya's age (possibly, Naruto didn't know Jiraiya's age, the man refused to tell him) and his hair flopped around his face and was surprisingly long. His eyes were currently spinning the Sharingun at him and Naruto swallowed. It was unnerving enough when he saw Sasuke use the Sharingun, but on a man who would probably try to kill him, it was enough to inspire a little fear.

"Naruto!"

The blond looked out of the corner of his eye and saw Sasuke trying to get to him, but he kept getting intercepted by his brother. The two clashed katanas together fluidly in a strange looking deadly dance. A little ways over, Gaara and Neji were also being kept busy with the man he heard Itachi call Kisame. He was clearly on his own.

Naruto glanced down worridly at Inari, who was frozen in his arms at the sight of Madara. He had to get the kid out of here. He couldn't hope to fight Madara at all if he was worried about protecting the kid.

"Inari."

The kid looked up at him. "I need you get out of here, okay? Go hide or run as fast as you can. Just go."

"What about you? You come with me," Inari said tentively.

Naruto smiled at him, trying to reassure the kid. "No worries. I can take care of myself. It'll be all right."

Inari looked at him doubtfully but, to Naruto's relief, he scrambled out Naruto's arms and took off. After making sure the kid was out of harms way, Naruto turned back to Madara and then frowned in confusion. The man was currently taking a long wood flute-like instrument out of his inner tunic pocket. It was dark brown wood, with several holes that the man covered up with his fingers and held to his lips. Before Naruto could ask what the hell he thought he was doing, the man started to play and his world went black.

_**SasuNaru**_

Sasuke frowned when flute music started to fill the air. To his surprise, Itachi paused in his attacks and then he heard Neji shout out Gaara's name in alarm. He looked and blinked in surprise when he saw that the redhead had collasped. He looked back and saw that Naruto was also no unconscious.

"What the hell?" he muttered.

Then the tune that Madara was playing, changed. He then noticed Itachi and Kisame pull back out of the corner of his eye. Wary, he quickly went over to Naruto's unconscious form. He stopped in front of the blond and then blinked in confusion. Naruto's chakra was starting to glow but instead of its usual pure blue, it was now a deep red.

"Naruto?" He asked cautiously. The blond's shoulders moved and then he looked up and Sasuke couldn't help but back up in surprise. Naruto's eyes were now a deep red and almost cat-like. His whisker marks were darker then ever and his mouth was snarling back to reveal longer canines. What was even more shocking were the fox ears on his head and now he could see a tail sprouting from his back.

"Oh my God…" Sasuke murmured quietly.

"I would run, little brother," Itachi said with a smirk. Sasuke glared at him. "Naruto-chan is not in control of himself at the moment."

Sasuke frowned at that and then he jumped back when a hand swiped at him. He stared in disbelief as Naruto started to attack him again. It was then that he noticed that the blond's hands were also now more claw-like then human. _'What the hell is going on?'_

Unfortunately, he didn't have time to figure it out because Naruto started to swipe at him again. The next several minutes were spent dodging Naruto's attacks. He had never seen Naruto like this. His Chakra level was through the roof and whenever he dodged Naruto's fist, there was damage to the space the blond hit. Sasuke was highly aware that he was up against someone much stronger then himself. The fighter part of him was slightly thrilled with the promise of a challenge but a larger part of him was worried about Naruto and trying to figure out a way to not severely hurt the blond.

He paused and was bumped into by Neji and glanced back. Neji was in the same prediciment only he was dodging Gaara who was in a similar state as Naruto but had a raccoon like tail and ears instead of Naruto's fox looks. "You too?" He said to Neji.

"Yes," Neji said, looking quite frusterated.

"Any ideas?"

"I'm going for knocking him out. You?"

"Same."

"Well, I guess we have a plan."

With that, the two seperated and went back to their opponants. Sasuke spent a few more minutes blocking and dodging and occasionally getting scratched by Naruto until finally he got close enough to hit the blond's pressure points with his arm. Naruto collapsed into his arms and he saw Neji also catch Gaara awhile later.

The music stopped and they looked at Madara who surveyed the scene critically. "Hmm…interesting. Itachi, Kisame, come."

"What?" Kisame yelled. "I thought you wanted the carriers."

"I just wanted test subjects. Those two have proven me correct. It is time to move on too much bigger prey." Madara said coolly and dissappeared.

Itachi shrugged at Kisame and then with a few hand signs, also left. Kisame muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "damn Uchihas" and left as well.

Sasuke and Neji looked at each other and Neji asked, "What the hell was that all about?"

"I don't know," Sasuke said quietly. He looked down at Naruto and saw that the blond was now back to normal. "But I don't like it."

TO BE CONTINUED…

AUTHOR NOTES: Don't kill me, this is why you get a second chapter with this update!


	27. Part II: Chapter 8

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Just this little AU idea so please don't sue, I'm not making any money off of this.

RATING: R to NC-17

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, and many others

AUTHOR NOTES: To make up for the shortness of the last chapter I'm updating with two chapters. Don't get used to this…and once again, thank you to all who have reviewed and shown patience.

PART II: CHAPTER 8

Naruto woke up feeling exhausted and very hungry. The blond frowned in confusion as he slowly took in unfamiliar surroundings. He wasn't at the destroyed village site anymore, he was in what looked to be a tent of some kind. He was in an uncomfortable bedroll and there was the smell of medicine and herbs. He looked over and saw Gaara in another bedroll next to his fast asleep. The two of them were the only ones in the tent. On the ground between the two were first aid kits (which explained the medicine smell) and some weeds sprouting where they were (which explained the plant smell).

The flap opened and Inari came in holding what looked to be some sort of food. Naruto's stomach immediately started to growl and the kid looked up. His eyes lit up.

"You're awake! Are you feeling okay? Should I get the adults?"

Naruto's head ached at the loud voice but he smiled weakly. "Water would be nice."

Inari nodded quickly. "I'll go get some." He went to get up and then paused and to Naruto's surprise, hugged him. The blond sat there awkwardly. He still wasn't used to people willingly touching him, other than Iruka or Sasuke. "I'm glad you're okay," the kid mumbled.

"Thanks," Naruto said quietly. Inari smiled at him and then left.

He glanced over and saw Gaara looking at him with a smirk. The redhead must have woken up sometime during the hug. Naruto saw the raised eyebrow (or brow as Gaara had no hair on his eyebrows) and scowled at him. "Shut up."

_**SasuNaru**_

"Naruto's awake!" Inari's voice came, causing Neji and Sasuke to stop their discussion.

Neji looked at the boy seriously. "Did he seem all right?"

Inari nodded. "He asked for water though. I'm going to go get him some from the river."

Sasuke nodded at the boy and he ran off. The two of them looked at each other. "I guess whatever Madara did has worn off."

Neji frowned. "I still say whatever happened has to do with that instrument he was carrying."

"Probably," Sasuke agreed. "But we can't do anything about it now accept take Inari home and tell Queen Tsunade what happened when we get back to Konoha."

Neji sighed. "Meanwhile Madara is probably headed wherever this bigger prey is and has a big head start."

"I don't like it either," Sasuke said, feeling equally frustrated.

"Let's go check on Naruto. Maybe Gaara's awake by now as well," Neji said. Sasuke nodded and the two of them went into the tent.

They found both Naruto and Gaara sitting up and devouring the fruit Inari had picked.

Neji smiled at the two of them. "Well, you're both obviously feeling better. Gaara, I don't think I've ever seen you eat quite so enthusiastically."

Gaara paused in his eating to give Neji the finger and then resumed his task. Neji just smiled and went to sit down beside the redhead. "I'm glad you're okay as well."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the two and went to sit down next to Naruto, who had paused to give him a wave. "Easy, Dobe. You're going to choke."

Naruto scowled at him. "How many times am I going to have to tell you not to call me Dobe?"

"As many times as it takes for you to stop acting like one."

The blond stuck out his tongue and then he frowned slightly. "What happened to your face?"

Sasuke blinked at the question and then remembered the scratches he had gotten during the fight with Naruto. The blond had managed to get him a few times. There were also scratches up and down his torso that were a lot deeper and needed to be bandaged. Luckily his shirt covered those so Naruto couldn't see them. The light ones on his face however…there was no hiding those.

Sasuke frowned at the blond a little. "You don't remember?"

Naruto shook his head. Neji looked at Gaara and the redhead shrugged. "I remember music and then falling. That's it." He frowned. "What the hell happened?"

Neji and Sasuke looked at each other. Naruto looked between them worriedly. "Sasuke? What happened? Did we do something while we were asleep?"

Sasuke looked at him seriously. "Yes. You did. But I'm pretty sure it was not you, or at least not you controlling your actions."

Gaara frowned at him. "What the hell does that mean, Uchiha?"

Neji sighed. "Gaara, you became a raccoon demon. At least, a part raccoon demon."

The redhead stared at him. "I what?"

Sasuke nodded and looked at Naruto whose eyes were wide. "You became a demon as well, Naruto. Only you were a fox."

"At least that's what we think happened," Neji said. "We're honestly not entirely sure what happened. But we do know that the minute Madara started playing that damn flute, you both collapsed, started to change, and then started to attack us."

"We attacked you?" Naruto asked, looking horrified. Sasuke sighed. This was not going well.

"We're fine, Naruto. We had to knock you out though."

"That explains the bump on my head," Gaara muttered, glaring at Neji a little.

The man held up his hands. "You didn't exactly give me another alternative, Gaara. You were harder to knock out then Naruto was."

"So…I did that?" Naruto asked quietly, looking at Sasuke's scratches.

"It's nothing serious," Sasuke said, trying to assure him. "It doesn't even hurt." Actually, the scratches on his torso were quite deep and ached a little but he wasn't about to admit that.

Gaara was silent and seemed to be thinking over their words. "You think Madara was controlling us some how?"

"Yes," Neji said. "We also think he was just using you to test out a theory because he left quickly and mentioned something about bigger prey."

"We were test subjects?" Naruto said, starting to look angry now.

"Looks like it," Sasuke said.

"Uchiha, your entire clan is bunch of assholes," Gaara said bluntly to him.

Sasuke shrugged. "You get no argument from me on that."

Naruto stood up. "I'm going for a walk." He left before any of them could protest.

Gaara watched him go and then looked at them. "So, what now?"

"We're taking Inari back to his mother and reporting this to the Queen. Hopefully she'll have some insight as what Madara is talking about."

Gaara gave them a frustrated look and they knew he didn't like the plan any more than they did.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Inari's village was a day's walk from Waterfall. Along the way they ran into some people who had managed to escape the destruction, including Inari's grandfather who held his grandson tightly when they saw each other. The old man joined them on their journey because as he stated, where else was he to go but to his daughter?

Inari's mother insisted they stay with them for the night when they got there. Sasuke started to refuse but after seeing the pleading looks he was getting, and from the way the woman strongly reminded him of Sakura he relented. Besides, Gaara and Naruto were still tired, though both of them refused to admit it.

He almost took back his decision when he saw the room they were staying in though. The room only had one bed that he and Naruto were expected to share. Neji and Gaara were in the second guest room with Tezuna (Inari's grandfather) which had two beds. Tsunami looked at him in confusion when he asked if there was another bed. "Aren't you both married? I don't see what the problem is."

Sasuke hesitated. "Yes, we're married. It was arranged."

Tsunami's dark eyes widened. "Oh…I just assumed because of the way you two act…I apologize. But there really is no other bed."

Sasuke nodded in understanding. Then he paused as her words sunk in. "What do you mean, the way we act?"

Tsunami blushed. "Oh well…you just give each other these looks sometimes. Plus, you act so worried about each other, so I just assumed. I guess though you're just good friends. I really am sorry."

"It's alright," Sasuke said quietly. _'Looks? What looks?_' He wondered if he was acting more obvious about his attraction then he previously thought. Plus, the way she made it sound, Naruto was looking at him too. But that was ridiculous. The blond had never given any indication he thought of them as more then friends. It was probably just the worried and apologetic looks Naruto had been giving him since he had learned about what he had done. It had only been less than a day and those looks were driving him crazy. He made a mental note to talk to Naruto about it and then headed outside to the stream by Tsunami's house. He needed to change his bandages before bed.

_**SasuNaruSasu**_

Naruto wandered quietly down the path he was told would lead him to the stream. He had hoped to get a little cleaned up before going to bed. He walked down and then paused in surprise as he saw Sasuke sitting crossed legged by the stream. The blond couldn't help but blush a little when he saw Sasuke's bare chest but then he frowned when he saw that Sasuke was removing bandages from his skin.

"I thought you said I didn't hurt you," he said, coming into the clearing. Sasuke looked up at him and sighed.

"It's not serious."

Naruto rolled his eyes as he sat down next to Sasuke. Honestly, it was like the man completely forgot that he was trained in first aid. "If it's not serious, why are you wearing bandages?"

Sasuke didn't answer because he probably realized he couldn't without looking dumb.

They sat quietly for a few minutes until Naruto grew uncomfortable with the silence. "You want me to change the ones on your back for you?"

Sasuke hesitated and then nodded. Naruto got behind him and started to remove them and winced at the blood coming from the deep claw marks. He still couldn't believe he had done this to Sasuke. _'No,'_ he thought firmly to himself. _'Not you, Madara did this. At least if Neji's theory about that flute thing is correct.'_

Reminding himself that it wasn't completely him, did help some. But a part of him still couldn't help but feel guilty and little worried about what might happen if they met up with Madara again and he couldn't control himself.

"Stop worrying," Sasuke said firmly, breaking through his thoughts.

"But what if it happens again?"

"It probably won't. But if it does, I can handle myself."

"But-,"

"Enough, Naruto. Worrying about what ifs doesn't help," Sasuke said, giving him a firm look over his shoulder. "We'll figure out what happened and then go from there."

Naruto sighed. "Okay." Then he glanced down at Sasuke's shoulder. "Hey, that mark is gone."

Sasuke stiffened. "Mark?"

"Yeah, that swirly thing on your shoulder. I saw it earlier but now it's gone. You remove it or something?"

"No…well, not voluntarily."

The blond frowned. "Huh?"

Sasuke sighed. He was hoping to never have to tell Naruto about this. "The mark is gone now, because Orochimaru is dead. He's the one who put it there."

Naruto sat next to him, having finished with the bandages. "I don't get it. How come the bad guy gave you a mark on your shoulder? What was it?"

Sasuke frowned and looked out at the stream. "It was a long time ago, Naruto. Well, a few years anyway. My first year of training in Konoha actually. I was…well, I wasn't completely sane that first year."

The blond's eyes widened. "Sane? What are you talking about?"

Sasuke let out a frustrated sigh. "I was determined to kill my brother. I still am, but now it's not the only thing important to me, because I have other things to live for. That first year however, I didn't see that. I never gave myself time to grieve for the clan, I was completely involved in my training. However, I felt my training was going too slowly. It didn't help that there were reports about my brother nearby, terrorizing other villages. I felt like he was taunting me. Telling me I would never catch up to him and bring justice for my clan.

About a year or so after I came to Konoha, Orochimaru came. No one knew then that he was the ringleader of a bunch of rebellions against Konoha. He came to watch me train one day and for some reason, took interest in me. To this day, I'm not sure why. But whatever the reason, he saw I was frustrated and offered an alternative. He told me about his plans to rebel against the four nations and that if I were to join him, I would be his apprentice and he would train me and help me defeat my brother. That's when he gave me the mark. It was a promise he made to train me and make me strong."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Please tell me you laughed in his face."

Sasuke looked at him. "Naruto, like I said, I wasn't completely sane then and was frustrated and his offer was very tempting. Then I wasn't friends with any of our comrades you know now. I had isolated myself, Kakashi had also been very busy then so I felt that I wasn't important to him either. I'm not using any of this as an excuse for leaving without saying anything, but back then, I felt like I was justified for leaving."

Naruto stared at him and then frowned. "But you hate Orochimcaru now. You're one of the most trusted Shinobi in Konoha? What happened?"

"Several things, but mostly luck. I arrived much earlier at the spot Orichimaru said to go and caught him talking to my brother. It was obvious that while they weren't working together, he was friendly with Itachi and that broke my trust. I left and wandered then, not sure where to go. I wasn't happy in Konoha but I then realized I couldn't go with Orochimaru who probably was not to be trusted. Kakashi then caught up with me and smacked some sense into me. Literally. Though in my defense I had pretty much worked out that I was being an idiot by then. We went back to Konoha and told the leaders of the rebellion and helped put a stop to it, though that didn't stop him from trying again and again."

Naruto studied him as he looked away. "So that's how you got the mark?"

"Pretty much."

The blond frowned and then smacked the back of his head. Sasuke glared at him. "What the hell, Naruto?"

"I can't believe you were such an idiot back then." Naruto said.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know. Kakashi and Sakura told me as much when I returned. I never said it wasn't stupid."

"Well, as long as you realize it was dumb." Naruto then scooted closer and rested his head on Sasuke's shoulder, causing the other to look at him in surprise. "I'm glad you came to your senses at least."

"Hn."

They sat like that for a moment until Naruto finally spoke, "So…is all that stuff why you didn't write?"

Sasuke frowned. "Partly. Mostly though, I just had no clue what to tell you. Especially that first year. After, it seemed pointless to write to you after not doing so for so long."

"I would have been happy with anything you wrote," Naruto mumbled, not looking at him.

"I know," Sasuke said quietly. He then hesitated and said softly, "I am sorry for that."

Naruto looked at him in surprise. "Did you just apologize?"

Sasuke shrugged.

The blond sighed. "Apology accepted." He put his head on Sasuke's shoulder again. "See? Saying your sorry, doesn't completely hurt."

Sasuke glared down at the blond. "Don't push it."

Naruto giggled and then they sat in silence once more.

TO BE CONTINUED…

AUTHOR NOTES: Please review.


	28. Part II: Chapter 9

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND, PART II

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters. I'm just borrowing them for this fanfiction. I'm not making any money off of it so please don't sue.

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaara, and many others.

AUTHOR NOTES: Let the posting frenzy begin! Let me explain to those of you who don't read my profile: I have made it my goal to finish this whole thing by the end of December. Yeah, you heard me. In less then two months I'm gonna try and finish this thing, or have it close to finished so I can end it in January. The reason is, this has gone on way to long for my taste (since 2006!) and I want to concentrate on Down the Rabbit Hole and the original fiction ideas I've started playing around with. Yes, I'm dabbling in original stories now. No, I have no idea when they'll be up.

So anyway, in order to do that, I need this done because this has been bugging me and again, it's been going on for too long now. So expect pretty regular updates from now on. I'll probably average two to three chapters every other week or so, depending on time and how much the holidays kill my time (I'm in retail so I'm betting it's going to be a lot) but hopefully I'll get a good chunk of this story done by the end of the year and completely finished come January. This unfortunately means Down the Rabbit Hole is on hiatus until January though because I can't write that and this and hope to get this finished in the deadline I set for myself. It'll get started on again in January though so don't worry, I haven't abandoned it.

So now that the explanations are over, thank you to all who have read this story (big thank you to the one reviewer who said my writing improved. I don't remember your name, sorry, but I was happy to hear that) and thank you for sticking with it for so long and putting up with my posting lulls. I know it can be frustrating when authors take a long time, so I really appreciate your patience. Without further ado, here's the next chapter.

PART II: CHAPTER 9

_City of Konoha,_

Sasuke felt immediate relief as he, Naruto, Gaara, and Neji walked into the walls of Konoha. A few days before, they had said good bye to Inari and his family and made their way quickly home. Naruto and Gaara were fully recovered from whatever it was Madara had done to them. His own scratches just ached, and didn't hinder him severely, so they were able to make it back rather quickly.

They got an appointment with the queen almost immediately, after Sasuke and Gaara intimidated the secretary by glaring at him over Naruto's shoulder. He went to find Shizune, Tsunade's black haired assistant, and then they were quickly led to her. Tsunade now listened to their story with a frown on her face as she took everything in.

After Neji finished, she looked at Naruto and Gaara. "You two are also sure you don't remember anything about what happened to you?"

They both shook their heads.

"I just remember hearing music and then feeling really tired all of a sudden," Naruto said, face screwed up as he tried to remember.

"It's the same for me," Gaara said coolly.

Tsunade frowned further and then looked at Sasuke and Neji. "Did either of you get a good look at the instrument Madara was playing?"

"I did," Neji said. He pulled out a sketch he had made on the way to Konoha and put it on her desk.

The queen took the paper and looked at it closely. "You said it was made of wood?" She asked. Sasuke noted a strange tone in her voice and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. I couldn't tell what kind though. I don't know about those sorts of things," Neji said apologetically. "It was a dark brown though, if that helps."

"It does. Shizune!" Naruto jumped as Tsunade suddenly shouted her assistants name. Neji, Gaara, and Sasuke were pretty much used to her doing this so they remained still. Shizune quickly appeared in the doorway.

"Yes, your Majesty?"

Tsunade took the sketch Neji had given her and sribbled a quick message on it. "Find my husband and tell him to look into this immediately. Also, if you find him near the woman's baths again, inform him that he's not getting any for a month."

Naruto snickered as Shizune rolled her eyes. "Yes, your Majesty. "

When she left, Sasuke looked at her. "You know what the instrument is?"

"I may have an idea," she said and sat down. "I hope to the Gods that I'm wrong though, otherwise we're in big trouble."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade shook her head. "I may be worried about nothing. Jiraiya will find out for me. Until then, you all are dismissed. I'll summon you when we actually have something."

The four of them bowed and then left. Once outside the hall, Naruto said, "Wow, what was that about?"

"My guess is it's demon related," Neji said quietly.

The three of them looked at him. Sasuke realized Neji was probably right. The instrument did have control over Naruto and Gaara, who being carriers, had demon blond in them.

Gaara frowned. "How would Madara have gotten his hands on a demon item? Those items are rare. Usually in museums or they're in the demon realm and humans are not welcome there."

"Maybe he stole it," Naruto suggested.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Sasuke said.

The four of them parted ways outside of the headquarters, then Naruto and Sasuke made their way back home. When they got home, they were met by Yuki who met them at their door and surveyed them with her hands on her hips. As usual, she noted Sasuke's injuries first.

"You're injured again."

Sasuke sighed. "It's not serious.

Yuki rolled her eyes. "That's what you always say." She looked at Naruto severely. "You haven't been taking his word for it, have you?"

Naruto saluted. "No maam. I've been checking on him every night like you warned me to do if he got injured."

"Excuse me?" Sasuke said, staring at the two. "Honestly you two, I can take care of myself. I was doing it long before either of you came along."

Naruto and Yuki shared a look, and Naruto nodded at him. "Sure you can Sasuke." Then they walked into the house.

"Great," Sasuke muttered. His husband and his housekeeper conspiring against him. That was the last thing he needed.

_**SASUNARUSASU**_

Naruto stood hesitantly outside Sasuke's bedroom door. He held a package of bandages in his hands that hung by his side as he frowned. Then he shook his head at himself. He was being stupid, and so lifted his hand to knock on the door.

Sasuke opened it and raised an eyebrow at him. Naruto wordlessly held up the bandages and gave him a firm look. The dark haired man sighed and let him in. "You know, I can probably do that on my own now."

"Whatever," Naruto said, ignoring him as usual.

He had grown to realize that Sasuke hated being looked after. Probably damaged his pride or something. So Naruto just ignored whenever he grumbled like a baby, which was what he was doing now, as he took off his tunic. Naruto had also gotten quite good at appearing nonchalant about Sasuke being shirtless. He may be attracted to the jerk, but he wasn't going to act like a drooling idiot around the man. He had some dignity. That didn't stop him from subtly admiring the man as he changed the bandages though. Hey, he was in denial, he wasn't blind and he was only human.

Naruto tried distracting himself by looking around Sasuke's room instead. He had never been in Sasuke's room long enough to really look at it. They'd always met for spars in the kitchen and he didn't feel right just going in. Granted, he technically now owned a part of the Uchiha grounds as well, being married to the heir. But it still felt like an invasion of privacy just going into Sasuke's room so he stayed out.

Now that he got a good look though, Naruto had to say it was kind of bare. His own room was now cluttered with his books and belongings. The palace had sent whatever stuff he had left on the trip over awhile ago and it now graced the shelves (and in some cases, floor) of his room. Sasuke's room however was quite neat. There weren't many personal things in it. The most personal thing was the blue wall hanging that hung over Sasuke's four poster mahogony bed. It showed the Uchiha fan crest and was the only wall decoration in the room. The only other personal like item that Naruto could see was the small portable painting of Sasuke's parents that stood on one of the two nightstands that matched Sasuke's bed.

His bedcovers and window hangings were a navy blue and both matched the large gold and blue woven rug that took up a large portion of the hardwood floorboards. A trunk sat at the end of his bed which held several of Sasuke's Shinobi gear. On the wall across from where the bed was placed was a row of shelves that held many jutsu scrolls and a few books. Naruto scanned the titles out of curiousity.

"They probably wouldn't interest you."

Naruto blinked and looked at Sasuke, who gave him a knowing look. "What?"

"My books. They're mostly political books or about war strategy. No mythology, fiction, or travel books. Sorry."

The blond shrugged. "Doesn't surprise me. You always did have boring taste in literature."

Sasuke rolled his eyes at him and Naruto continued to change the bandages, noting that in probably few days, Sasuke wouldn't need them any more. As he did this, Naruto realized in surprise that it actually had been awhile since he read a book. Since he'd come to Konoha, now that he thought about it. He supposed it made sense.

At the palace, he'd mostly used books as a way to escape the boredom and isolation he would often feel. The only ones who had bothered with him there were Iruka and the King and, when he'd arrived, Konohamaru and his friends. Also Kakashi and Sasuke when they were there. But aside from them, he was pretty much ignored or seen as a nuisance. Often they were busy as well and didn't have time for him so there were large chunks of time wre he felt pretty lonely. He had never felt that here though, he realized.

He and Sasuke spent quite a lot of time together improving his skills in jutsu and hand to hand combat. When Sasuke was busy, Yuki was happy to talk to him. When she was away, he had plenty of friends among the shinobi to hang out with. He, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba had taken to going out to the local pub weekly (much to Sasuke's displeasure, he disapproved of drinking and pretty much everything Kiba did). Neji, Gaara, and Lee made great sparring partners when Sasuke wasn't around. Sakura, Ino, TenTen and Hinata were also pretty fun to hang out with. Hinata was sweet, TenTen was fun to talk too, and watching Sakura and Ino fight was rather entertaining at times. He was…happy here. Happier then he'd ever been.

"What's with you?" Sasuke asked him with a cautious frown. Naruto realized he had a huge grin on his face.

"Nothing," the blond said, grinning further.

Sasuke eyed him suspiciously. He'd learned not to trust Naruto when he grinned for no reason. It usually meant there was a prank being planned. Finally he shook his head. "Weirdo."

Naruto just continued to beam at him.

_**SASUNARUSASU**_

A few days later Naruto and Sasuke were sparring out back. It was nice clear day. It was unseasonably warm, considering it was early February and Naruto wanted to take advantage of it so he'd begged Sasuke to spar outside. He had been hesitant at first, worried about Sasuke's scratches. It wasn't until Sasuke goaded him that Naruto finally started to take it seriously. He hated being called a coward.

After a hour or so the spar was finally nearing its end. Naruto suddenly landed on top of Sasuke in a quick move and pinned his arms. The blond grinned in triumph, "Got you!"

Sasuke felt a bit of surprise and pride at the same time. Naruto had nerver managed to pin him before, and certainly not this quickly. He was definitely improving. But the point of these spars was to teach so instead of praising him, Sasuke flipped them over and pinned Naruto underneath him, holding both of the blond's wrists firmly above his head. He smirked down at the scowling blond. "Not quite."

"Damn. You're never going to just let me have a victory, are you?" Naruto complained.

Sasuke shrugged. "I'm here to teach you, not coddle you. If I'd let you win, you'd get even more cocky and never learn."

Naruto looked up at him innocently. "I'm not cocky!"

The dark haired man snorted. "Right, and Kakashi doesn't read porn when Iruka isn't around."

"Sasuke, you made a joke!" Naruto said, with a grin. "You feeling okay?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes. I've just been hanging around you for too long."

Naruto grinned and fluttered his eyelashes. "You say that like it's such a bad thing."

Sasuke glared at him and the blond laughed. Then Sasuke suddenly became aware of the position they were in. Naruto's face was now flushed from the physical activity and his eyes were lit with excitement and happyness. He looked...well, beautiful probably wasn't the right word. His blond hair was too wild and matted with tangles and he was sweating quite a bit. They both were actually. But to Sasuke, he was very appealing at that moment. He hesitated a moment and something must have shown on his face because Naruto stopped laughing and looked at him in concern.

"Sasuke?" He tilted his head and looked at him worriedly.

_'To hell with it'_ Sasuke finally decided. _'If he doesn't like it, he'll tell me and I'll back off.'_ With that, he leaned down and softly pressed his lips against Naruto's. He felt Naruto stiffen in surprise under him and waited for his response. After a few tense seconds, Naruto's lips moved under his and he started to tentively kiss him back.

Sasuke felt a rush of pleasure and let the blond's wrists go. He threaded one of his hands into Naruto's hair, and rested one on the blond's hip and started to kiss him more firmly now that he knew this was welcome and he wasn't going to get punched for it. Naruto also grew bolder and put his arms around his shoulders and rested his hands at the back of Sasuke's neck, fingers twirling his hair idly which caused Sasuke to groan in pleasure.

Naruto, he realized, had kissed someone before. He made none of the awkward movements of a first time kisser. In fact, the blond's movements were quite confident. Sasuke felt a stab of jealousy at the thought of someone else kissing Naruto but let it go. He was married to the blond now so it made no difference anyway, plus whoever he had kissed, had taught Naruto well.

He felt a jolt of surprise when Naruto's tongue pressed inquisitively at his mouth and immediately let the tongue in. Their tongues met and tangled with each other pleasantly, causing both of them to moan. God, he could get addicted to this pretty easily. Naruto had an addicting flavor and it was amazing how intense the simple act of kissing was. He idly wondered what sex between them would be like.

Eventually they had to stop and come up for air. They panted a bit and lay there staring at each other. He saw Naruto's eyes widen a bit as it all sunk in and the blond started to open his mouth but then they heard a loud gasp. They looked to where the sound came from and there was Shizune standing at the edge of the yard, cheeks bright red. Naruto's face became even redder when they realized she was there and quickly scooted out from under Sasuke. Sasuke felt a bit of a loss at the warmth and then shook his head to clear it.

"What are you doing here, Shizune? Is something wrong?" Tsunade usually didn't send her assistant unless it was pretty important. Sasuke tried not to blush as he heard how husky his voice was.

Shizune quickly bowed. "I deeply apologize, but her majesty wishes to see you both right away. Yuki told me to come out back and I didn't think anything of it and-"

Sasuke waved her off. "It's all right. Tell the queen we're on our way."

Shizune bowed again and practically ran out of there. Sasuke sighed and looked at Naruto who was staring at him with an unreadable expression. He frowned and then finally said, "We should probably shower first. We're a mess."

Naruto nodded and then quickly got up. "Yeah, see you."

Sasuke frowned. He was not going to let the blond get away with that. "Naruto."

He froze just as he was about to leave the yard and turned to Sasuke. "Yeah?"

Sasuke looked at him seriously, "We ARE talking about this after the meeting."

Naruto looked at him warily for a few moments and then finally nodded. "Okay."

Sasuke watched him go and then sighed. Time to go see what was so urgent.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	29. Part II: Chapter 10

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND, PART II

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters/similar plots. I am just borrowing and am not making any money off of this.

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, NejiGaara, and many others.

AUTHOR NOTES: Part II of this update. Once again, thank you all who have stuck with this fic for so long. Also, I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving this week, however you choose to celebrate it. If you happen to go shopping on Black Friday, I may be one of the guest service clerks so please be nice to the service people! Now that I'm done trying to spread good karma for the other people in my shoes, on with the fic and I hope you enjoy.

PART II, CHAPTER 10

_City of Konoha,_

Both Naruto and Sasuke were silent as they made their way to Tsunade's office later that day. The two of them had quickly changed and cleaned up after the message from Shizune. Naruto's mind now kept wandering back to the kiss, even as he also worried about what Tsunade had to tell them. First and foremost on his minde was why did Sasuke do it? Second, he realized that he had liked it. A LOT. It made denying that he was still attracted to Sasuke pretty much impossible now. He glared at the raven haired man from the corner of his eye. Sasuke was about as deep in thought as he was so he didn't notice.

As they headed up to Tsunade's office Naruto forced the kiss from his mind. He needed to concentrate on the meeting. If it turned out that Sasuke had just done it out of curiousity (which he doubted, it wasn't in Sasuke's character to do something out of idle curiousity) or some sense of obligation then he would kick the man's ass. Or at the very least get a few good punches in.

When they got to the office, Neji and Gaara were already in front of the door. Neji smiled tiredly at them. "I see Shizune found you two, as well."

Gaara grumbled. "I hope she woke you two up also."

Naruto felt his cheeks burn as he remembered the position Shizune found them in. Sasuke calmly replied, "We were sparing."

Neji raised an eyebrow and looked from Naruto's red face to Sasuke's impassive expression. "If you say so."

Sasuke glared at him but the door opened before he could say anything. Shizune beckoned them in (she didn't look either Sasuke or Naruto in the eye) and they went in. Jiraiya and Tsunade were both there, as well as Kakashi who waved at them lazily and then returned to his orange book. Tsunade sent him a glare and then he sighed and put it away. They went through the formalities of the meeting. Tsunade reminded them all of what happened before and then explained what it was she had Jiraiya check on. It turned out that she had him check on an item called the demon flute. Naruto was the only one who had any idea what that was and looked at her in surprise.

Tsunade looked at him. "I take it you know what it is?"

The blond shrugged. "Sort of. I read the story about it, but beyond that, I don't know much. But I thought the story said it was lost after the Great War?"

The three shinobi looked at each other with curiousity at the mention of the war. The Great War was an old war that had occurred between humans and demons very early in the beginnings of the founding of their lands. It had finally ended with the demons withdrawing to a neighboring island off of their coast. They stayed there and had lived in more or less peace with each other ever since due to a strict peace treaty drawn up between their leaders. There was an occasional demon who would leave their island and come and wreak havoc but shinobi were usually able to handle them.

Tsunade shook her head at Naruto. "No, actually. It was just very well hidden. Our leaders at the time thought it best to keep it just in case the demons didn't keep their word. Luckily, we've never needed it."

"Needed what, exactly? What is this demon flute?" Neji asked curiously.

Tsunade sighed. "I'm sure you all have heard the legend at least. Near the end of the war, our leaders were desperate. We were losing, the demons were getting stronger everyday, and there seemed no hope of resolution other then our kind being wiped out. So they had people work on something, anything, that could weaken demons and help them. Finally, a team of Shinobi were able to come up with something that gave them complete control over the demons. During a battle, they tested it and were able to weaken them. The demons fought as best they could, but finally in the end decided that enough was enough. We would win great battles and then they would great battles. If we continued like were, our races would have wiped each other out. So, they decided to leave peacefully and go to their realm and leave us be as long as we left them be."

"So, you're saying this flute that Madara had was the weapon those shinobi came up with?" Sasuke asked doubtfully.

"Without a doubt," Jiraiya said. "I went to the caves that the flute was hidden in. It's not there anymore and the seals and guards protecting it were destroyed and killed."

"What does the flute do, exactly?" Neji asked. "I know it weakens demons, but how does it do that?"

"It steals their chakra," Tsunade said. "Demons have different chakra then humans do, as you know. The team of shinobi came up with a way to harness the wind with the flute to steal all demon chakra. It's a jutsu, actually, a really advanced working type of jutsu. It's quite a marvel actually. No one has been able to figure out how they did it either, they destroyed all the notes they made on the creation of it."

"So, it steals demon chakra?" Naruto asked. "Is that why it effected me and Gaara when Madara played it?"

"Yes. It's actually never been played around Carriers before. The reactions you two had are quite curious," She studied them and Naruto squirmed. Gaara just glared at her.

Sensing his husband's dangerous mood, Neji asked, "Well, all right, so Madara has the demon flute. What do we do now?"

"Well, I've been going over the possibilities of what Madara could be up too. I'm honestly not sure, but I am sure of one thing. He's headed to the demon realm."

The four men stared at her. "You're positive about this?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes. I've had reports from shinobi across the lands that he is headed towards the coast. That, combined with what you two told me he said when he left, leads me to feel that he has business there. Business that is not good for us I'm sure. So I'm sending the four of you to the demon realm, along with Kakashi and Iruka."

Naruto blinked several times. "Me too? But I'm not a Shinobi."

Tsunade smiled. Then she reached into her desk and pulled out a headband and tossed it too him. He caught it and stared in surprise. It was a headband exactly like Sasuke's and all the other shinobi, with the symbol of Konoha scratched into it. "What…Old lady?"

"Consider yourself a Shinobi, Naruto. Genin class, but you can work your way up. Sasuke has told me you've greatly improved in your lessons, and Iruka has told me all of your skills that he's taught you, so I think it's safe to say you are at genin level now. On probation, at least."

Naruto gaped at her. "But-the laws…I'm a carrier!"

"So is he," Tsunade waved at Gaara. "If the council or anyone else doesn't like it, they can take it up with me. But last I was aware, the queen had the power to give shinobi status to any she deemed worthy. I think you can handle it."

The blond paused and she sighed. "Unless you don't want to be, of course?"

Naruto held the headband to his chest and frantically shook his head. "No! I mean, I want to be! I mean…thanks."

Tsunade smiled at him and then went on with the meeting. The rest of the meeting was mostly about making plans for the upcoming mission but Naruto could barely pay attention. He just kept staring at the headband in his hands in slight shock and awe.

_'Holy crap, I'm a shinobi!'_

He couldn't wait to tell Iruka and then write a letter to Konohamaru and everyone in the palace. They were never going to believe it!

_**SASUNARUSASU**_

Sasuke wandered out into the yard later that night and found Naruto exactly where he'd thought the blond would be. He walked up and sat next to him by the tiny koi fish pond. Naruto was sitting crosslegged and still staring at his headband in a slight daze. Sasuke smirked.

"Are you going to actually ever put that on, or just stare at it?"

The blond looked at him and shrugged sheepishly. "I'm just trying to process it." He paused and glanced at him. "Did you really tell the hag that my skills had improved?"

Sasuke looked away. "I just spoke the truth."

"Well…thanks for speaking the truth."

Sasuke nodded. They sat for a few tense moments until Naruto finally blurted out, "Why did you kiss me?"

"I don't know."

Naruto snorted at him in disbelief. "You don't know."

Sasuke glared. "I don't, all right? All I know, is that in the last few months I've become attracted to you. Next thing I know, I can't freaking get you out of my head. So when we were sparing and got close I figured, what the hell?"

Naruto stared at him. "You figured, what the hell? That wasn't supposed to be a romantic confession, was it? Because if it was, I got to say, it stunk."

Sasuke snorted. "I wasn't trying to be romantic. I was telling the truth. I've become attracted to you and I think I may be starting to have feelings for you."

The blond sighed. "Okay. Well, maybe I'm attracted to you too and maybe sort of have feelings for you too."

Sasuke smirked. "Maybe? As I recall, you kissed back quite enthusiastically."

Naruto glared at him. "You started it."

"Naruto," Sasuke said exasperately and they both looked away. Then Sasuke asked, "Where'd you learn to kiss like that anyway?"

Naruto blushed slightly. "Sai."

"Who?"

"Visiting diplomat's son from Root village. He was really annoying, but he didn't care that I was a carrier. I kind of liked that and well, one thing led to another…"

Sasuke scowled and firmly told himself he was not jealous at the slightly fond tone in Naruto's voice as he spoke about this stranger. "What happened to him?"

Naruto shrugged. "He left. It wasn't serious. We were just kids messing around. We didn't go any further then kissing if that's what you really want to know."

Sasuke didn't answer and they sat in silence for awhile. Finally Naruto asked, "So what do we do about this?"

"Well…the smart thing would be to ignore it. We are going on a mission and need to be focused."

Naruto gave him a doubtful look. "You really think we can ignore this?"

"No. Which is why I'm going to propose that we just start out slowly. See where it takes us and don't let it interfere with the mission."

Naruto raised his eyebrow. "Slowly huh?"

"Yes."

"I guess I could do that." He then hesitated. "Slowly includes kissing, right?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes at him. "Yes, Dobe. Slowly includes kissing."

"Good." Then Sasuke blinked in surprise as the blond leaned forward quickly and pressed his lips against his. They enjoyed the contact a bit before Naruto pulled away and grinned. "I think I like this plan of yours."

Sasuke snorted. Then he glanced down at the headband that was still in Naruto's hands and took it. The blond protested, but he held it out of his grasp, and then said, "Turn around."

Naruto frowned, but obeyed. Sasuke took the headband and gently wrapped it around Naruto's forehead and firmly tied it so it stayed in place. "There you go. Proper Shinobi now."

The blond turned and grinned at him. "How do I look?"

Sasuke studied him and smiled slightly. "It suits you."

Naruto grinned further and kissed him again. _'I could definitely get used to this' _he thought as it ended and the blond settled his head against Sasuke's shoulder. They sat comfortably until Naruto broke the silence.

"So, demon realm, huh?"

"Hn."

"Wonder what it's going to be like. I've never been able to find any books on it."

"Whatever it's like, it will be dangerous. So we better be on our guard the whole time we're there."

"Yeah, I know," Naruto paused and then looked at Sasuke with a worried look. "Do you think they'll have ramen there?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

END OF PART II

TO BE CONTINUED IN PART III

AUTHOR NOTES: So that's the end of Part II. Part III will hopefully be started next week or at the very least the week after. Please review!


	30. PartIII: Chapter 1

THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND: PART III

AUTHOR: fantasylover12001

PAIRINGS: SasuNaru, KakaIru, and many others.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters, just this tiny AU idea that blew up in my face and morphed into this.

SUMMARY FOR PART III: Sasuke and Naruto head to the realm of the demons to try and stop Madara's plans for the demons. Meanwhile, they deal with the changes in their own relationship along the way.

AUTHOR NOTES: On with part III!

PART III: CHAPTER 1:

_Edge of the four lands, beach,_

Naruto stood staring in awed silence as he looked at the view around him. The blond stood on a low cliff that overlooked a long beach. Before him lay a vast ocean. Having never seen the ocean or a beach before in his life, Naruto was fascinated by it. He sniffed the air curiously, noting a new smell.

"The air smells different."

"That's because of the ocean water," Sasuke said, as he walked up the cliff, and stood next to him. "It always smells different from regular water."

"Oh," Naruto said. He sniffed it again. "I kind of like it."

"Good. We're going to be smelling it for at least a month."

Naruto blinked. "It's going to take that long? Really?"

"According to the captain down there, and it's just a rough estimate too. They've never actually sailed to the Demon Realm. Very few have."

"Why?"

Sasuke gave him a look that told him he was being dumb. "Naruto, demons don't like us and we don't like them. Why do you think we don't sail there often?"

It was a stupid question, now that he thought about it. He glanced down at the captain and noted he didn't look very thrilled with the idea of sailing there either. Neji stood across from him with a glare on his face and his arms crossed. The captain wasn't intimidated though. He was a big guy (way bigger then Neji in height and size) with dark eyes, a gray beard, and a thick accent that Naruto didn't recognize.

"Should we be down there?" Naruto asked, noting that Neji looked awfully close to losing his temper. Traveling with Neji in the past few weeks had taught him the signs of Neji getting irritated.

"Gaara will keep him from hitting the guy," Sasuke said carelessly. "Personally, I'm happy to be out of their hair for awhile."

Naruto smiled a little in agreement and rested his head against Sasuke's broad shoulder. This was something he had learned he liked to do in the past few weeks. It was comfortable, Sasuke smelled nice, and it was warm.

He had actually learned quite a lot in the past few weeks of travel. One, Sasuke was a great kisser and private in his affections. He may not be a big hand holder (which was fine, because neither was Naruto) but when they were alone, Sasuke didn't mind if they just lay close after making out. He also managed to get more out about Sasuke's past now that they were closer and learned what the man had been up too while he was gone. It was quite a bit.

Naruto sort of felt like his life was boring in comparison, but then he told stories of his pranks to make up for it. There was never anything dull about his pranks and he always felt better after he remembered the council members faces after said pranks. Even better was when he got Sasuke to smother a smile after telling his tales. Sasuke hadn't cared for the council members either.

Along with Sasuke, he got to know other things about their group of friends too. Which was natural as a bunch of them were with the four of them as back up. Tsunade had decided they should have two teams go with the usual four so she sent Kiba and his team: Shino, Hinata, and a black haired woman named Kurunai. The other team consisted of Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, and Sakura who was sent with them instead of their usual forth member because she needed more field experience apparently.

One thing he learned: never steal Chouji's food (or call him fat, but Naruto had learned that the first day he met him). Other things involved little stuff: Sakura was a terrible cook and therefore should not be allowed near the camp fire. Shikamaru could manage to sleep on his horse if Ino would let him. He and Shino did not get along. It wasn't anything personal, their personalities just clashed so while they did respect each other, they would never be as good as a friend as say he and Kiba were. He also was convinced Kiba cheated at cards but had yet to be able to prove it to anyone else. They just thought he was really bad at cards, which he totally wasn't.

"Hey, love birds!" Naruto jumped out of his reverie and Sasuke glared down the cliff at Kiba who smirked up at them.

"What do you want, Inuzuka?" Sasuke asked with a glare.

"Time to go! I think the captain wants to get rid of us as quickly as possible." He left and Sasuke sighed.

"Here I thought traveling with him was going to be bad. Being cooped up with him on a ship is going to be ten times worse."

Naruto elbowed him. "Be nice. He's your friend."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Your point?"

The blond shook his head. "And you call me childish."

_SasuNaruSasu_

This was actually Sasuke's first time traveling by ship and he could honestly say he detested the mode of travel now. It was nothing against ships personally. It was the fact that space on ships was limited and when you spent a large amount of time in that limited space, you tended to go crazy.

They were using a modest passenger/merchant ship that was mainly used for the royal families. There were actually a lot more rooms then Sasuke would've thought, but the rooms were still small and they still had to bunk up. Naturally he got paired with Naruto which was fine. The two had gotten used to sleeping next to each other and with the new development in their relationship, there was now a healthy amount of kissing before going to bed. That part was probably the only thing he didn't mind about the experience.

The problem with the ship was that he was bored out of his mind. There were only so many katas a person could go through and he couldn't go through all of them because there wasn't room enough for all of them and he wasn't going to make a spectacle of himself in front of the crew thank you. Besides which, the captain had expressly forbidden them from doing any of their "shinobi nonsense" on the deck so it wouldn't distract his men.

That didn't stop Naruto from making himself at home on the ship though. Unlike Sasuke, Naruto took to life at sea. He managed to talk the sailors into teaching him how to do knots, let him climb the riggings, and a thousand other things that made Sasuke nervous (especially the rigging part). At first the sailors merely tolerated his presence, but like everyone else, Naruto managed to charm them and now he was pretty much an honorary member of the crew. Sasuke was not at all jealous about the time the blond was spending with them and not him. Not at all.

"Why are you still awake?" Speaking of the devil. Sasuke glanced over at Naruto who peered up at him tiredly. It was late at night and the two were laying on the built-in bed in their cabin. Naruto had been curled up next to him, drooling on his shoulder. Sasuke looked pointedly at the mess.

"You know, if you're going to use me as a pillow, at least have the decency not to drool on me."

Naruto blushed sheepishly. "Sorry. But seriously, that can't have been all that was keeping you awake."

"The waves aren't exactly helping," he muttered.

Naruto glanced out the tiny porthole in their room. "Really? I find it soothing."

"Yes, I've realized." Honestly, the blond lay in bed and he was asleep in like five minutes. It really was unfair. "Go back to sleep. I'm fine."

Naruto looked at him worriedly. "You sure?"

"Sleep, Naruto."

The frowned at him, but rested his head on Sasuke's shoulder once again. Sasuke listened to his breathing even out and firmly told himself 'one week. Just one more week'

_SasuNaruSasu_

Sadly, it was actually a week and a half (the navigator got confused on the island's location and it cost them a few days, the captain chewed him out loudly for the mistake). Sasuke walked up to the deck and saw all the Shinobi gathered at the ship's rail. He looked where they were looking and realized they had arrived. Sasuke searched for Naruto and found him by the ship's front, looking out at the island seriously.

The Demon Realm was in actuality a large island. It was mountainous, with a long beach surrounding a forest that seemingly covered the land. At the base of the large mountain was a huge old fashioned stone castle as well as tall looking buildings here and there. Early morning mist covered it, making the island look…well, creepy.

The ship docked a little while after he woke up at a cove area on the beach. When they got off the ship, a demon stood waiting for them. They stared at him and he stared right back. The demon had eerie golden like eyes with dark red hair that fell straight down to his waist and blended in perfectly with the large fox ears on top of his head. He was dressed in a white tunic, cinched with a gold belt, dark brown loose pants and gold sandles that showed off the deadly looking claws that were his feet and hands. A sword hung at his side and nine red fox tails constantly twitched behind him.

When he finally did speak, Sasuke noticed that his eyes were trained on Naruto and frowned.

"Hello, I'm Kyuubi. Welcome to the Demon Realm."

TO BE CONTINUED…

AUTHOR NOTES: I know this is dreadfully short. But there are more updates coming this week and next (I am still trying to get this done by the end of January) so bear with me. I am sorry about the huge delay, real life holidays got the better of my plans. I'm still recovering….Anyway, thank you to all who reviewed the last part.


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